Ducks Win on the Road: Pioneers Fall at Home
STEVENS 72, WIlliam Paterson 66
The Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team fought off a second half comeback bid from William Paterson University Monday night to come away with a 72-66 win.
The win was the fourth straight for the Ducks as they moved their record to 4-1 while the Pioneers fell to 4-2.
Junior
Kaitlyn Astel led the Ducks with 16 points and 10 rebounds for her second double-double of the season while junior
Miranda Ripken was the team's second leading scorer with 12. Sophomore
Brittany Washington scored 10 to go along with eight rebounds. As a team, Stevens shot 48.9 percent from the field.
The Ducks came out with a hot start keyed by 10 points combined from four different players to build a 10-4 lead five minutes in. Stevens continued to control play before a jumper from Astel followed by a layup from freshman
Megan Brown with four minutes remaining in the half extended the lead to 14.
William Paterson fought back with an 11-2 run to cut the deficit to six with just under two minutes left, but a layup and a three from freshman
Sydney Darby gave the Ducks the 10 point lead they took into the half.
Stevens struggled to find its shooting touch to start the second half but still managed to get on the board with free throws. The Ducks scored their first six points of the half from the line before a Washington layup five minutes in broke the streak and brought the lead to 12.
The Pioneers once again fought back though, outscoring the Ducks 16-6 over the next three minutes to cut the deficit to two. From there, both teams went back-and-forth with Stevens never relinquishing the lead.
With just under six minutes remaining, a layup from Astel rose the Stevens lead to seven followed by a pair of free throws a couple minutes later from Washington to bring the lead to six. The Pioneers pulled within three with three minutes remaining, but the Ducks closed the game on a 9-6 run clinched by a pair of free throws from Astel with under 10 seconds to go.
Hamilton 70, UTICA 56
The Utica College women's basketball team had its two game win streak snapped Monday evening by local non-conference rival Hamilton College, 70-56, at the Clark Athletic Center.
Christy Traglia led the Pioneers with a team-high 18 points and three steals shooting 6-of-12 from the floor.
UC evens its overall record at 3-3 and remains home to host Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Wednesday for a Faculty Appreciation Game. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. at Clark.
The Continentals move their overall record to 4-3 on the season and look to make it three-straight Wednesday as they head to Schenectady, NY to challenge Union College (7 p.m.).
Hamilton's Sam Graber led all scorers with a game-high 32 point effort along with eight rebounds and two blocks.
UC point guard
Mary Miceli totaled 17 points on 5-of-10 shooting and five boards while senior
Bridget Greenwald added 14 scores and six grabs.
The Pioneers shot a dismal 39.6% (19-48) from the floor including 43.3% (13-30) from the charity stripe. Utica took its one and only lead, .48 into the contest, and would battle from behind from the remainder. The visitors quickly opened up a 23-5 push, over the next eight minutes, to work its largest lead of the first half, 23-7, at 11:33. The Pioneers would edge a 23-20 ledger to close of the half however trailed by 15 points, 40-35, at the break.
The teams traded baskets over the initial 10 minutes of the second before the home Pioneers made a move to pull within seven points, 58-51, off a Traglia jumper with 9:29 left. HC didn't allow UC to get any closer down the stretch, however, as Hamilton closed out the victory on a 12-5 run