WOMEN’S BASKETBALL CLAIMS FIRST EAST COAST CONFERENCE TITLE IN SCHOOL HISTORY

FLUSHING, NY - Tournament MVP sophomore Kymira Woodberry (Boston, MA) had 15 points and 11 rebounds, and all-tournament selection senior Randi Bender (North Bellmore, NY) scored a game-high 22, as Molloy College captured the 2008 East Coast Conference Women's Basketball Championship with a 76-59 win over two-time defending champions University of New Haven on Sunday afternoon at Queens College's Fitzgerald Gymnasium.

Molloy (19-11), which had not won a playoff game since the 1989-1990 season, blew the game open with an 18-5 run over a span of 7:27 to start the second half. The Lady Lions led 50-35 after Bender knocked down one of her four 3-pointers on the day. Three of them came during the run, which saw UNH (21-9) miss its first eight second-half shots.

Woodberry, named ECC Player of the Year last Wednesday, added ECC Championship MVP honors with 15 points, 11 rebounds and five steals in 34 minutes of action. She was 7-for-9 from the free throw line, and got 11 of her points in the second half as Molloy pulled away. Likewise, Bender got 12 of her 22 in the second half, including nine during the run to start the period.

UNH got a team-best 21 points and nine rebounds from sophomore Alysia Saunders, who was named to the all-tournament team. Lauren Hood was the other Charger in double figures with 10 points, while Natasha Pierre-Louis had eight points and five rebounds in 19 minutes.

Free throw disparity and three-point shooting helped Molloy carry the day. The Lady Lions made 18 of 21 from the charity stripe to just 7 of 10 for UNH, and Molloy knocked down 8 of 13 three-pointers versus just two long-range makes for the Chargers.

Following Molloy's hot start to the second half, UNH looked like it had some momentum with 10:54 remaining. They scored seven straight points to pull to within 50-42, with Saunders getting five of those points. But Woodberry put in a layup on the next possession and then stole the ball from Helin Marte, got fouled, and made two free throws.

That sequence put Molloy back on top by 12, and they never led by less the rest of the way.

Molloy, which had never won a playoff game in program history entering this tournament, defeated (7) St. Thomas Aquinas, (3) C.W. Post, and the top-ranked Chargers to earn the school's first-ever berth to the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Championships.

Molloy led by two at the half behind 10 points from Bender (4-for-9), while Saunders matched her with 10 points for the Chargers. After UNH opened with the game's first six points, Molloy came right back and scored nine straight over a four minute span. It was tight the rest of the way. Molloy pulled ahead by a high of eight points, 28-20 with 3:43 remaining as Bender cashed in a 3-pointer. UNH re-tied the contest at 28 with an 8-0 run, including a three-point play by Briiana Rende, a 3-point shot by Yasmin Ithier-Vicenty, and a layup by Hood. On their final possession of the half, Saunders missed two layups but got the rebound each time and finally converted on the third attempt with 16 seconds left to cut the deficit to 32-30.

Molloy receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Regional tournament but will have to wait and see where they will be seeded. The Chargers were the Northeast Region's 10th-ranked team as of Wednesday's update so they will have to wait and find out if they will be selected to the eight team tournament.

Story courtesy of New Haven Sports Information Department.