WOMEN’S BASKETBALL FALLS TO NEW HAVEN IN FINAL TWO SECONDS

WEST HAVEN, CT- The Molloy College women's basketball team fell in the final two seconds to the Chargers of the University of New Haven on January 9 at Charger Gymnasium on New Haven's "Think Pink" day. The 73-71 East Coast Conference loss drops the Lady Lions to 11-11 overall and 9-6 in league play, while the Chargers improve to 14-8 and 14-1.

After two minutes, the Lady Lions held the early 10-3 lead with sophomore E.J. Dreyer (Floral Park, NY) scoring six of Molloy's first ten points. Four minutes later, New Haven evened the game at 14. The Chargers took the lead on the next possession but Molloy was ahead at the midpoint (21-19) of the first. Over the next six minutes of play, both teams battled back and forth for the lead as the game saw three tie scores. New Haven charged ahead at the end of the half as they outscored the Lady Lions, 10-2 and entered the locker room with the 40-33 advantage.

Sophomore Kymira Woodberry (Boston, MA) scored 14 of the Lady Lions first 16 points and gave the Lady Lions a one point edge (49-48) with 13:51 left in the game. Molloy kept on top of the Chagers over the next nine minutes but New Haven fought back and two free throws by New Haven's Lauren Hood evened the score at 62 as 4:51 remained. Woodberry notched one of two free throws on Molloy's next possession to regain the advantage (63-62), which they held for the next three minutes. However, two more free throws by New Haven's Hood tied the game at 69 with 1:27 ticks left. The Chargers took a two point lead (71-69) on their next possession but sophomore Lisa Abitante's (Brooklyn, NY) lay-up made it a new game (71-71) as 23 seconds remained on the scoreboard. In the final seconds, New Haven's Hood missed a jumper but New Haven's Saunders grabbed the offensive rebound and scored two points to give the Chargers the 73-71 victory.

Woodberry finished the game with a double-double (23 points; 10 rebounds), while Abitante had 13 points and four assists. Senior Randi Bender (North Bellmore, NY) recorded 11 points and four assists during the game.

The Lady Lions return home for an East Coast Conference game against Queens College on Wednesday, February 13. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:00 PM.