Posted: Feb 21, 2015
Redhawks pull into 2nd place tie in ECC …
- Roberts Wesleyan rode a killer 29-4 run over the final eight minutes of the first half to claim a 71-58 ECC win over Mercy in Rochester, pulling into a 2nd place tie with Queens in the process. Marissa Sell led the way with 11 points and 18 rebounds, including the 1,000th board of her career, making her the first player in Redhawk history to reach the 1K barrier in both scoring and rebounding. The visiting Mavericks started the contest well, breaking to a 20-12 lead with 7:56 left in the first period but RWC exploded on them at that juncture. A 17-0 burst, filled by three-pointers from Necedah James (20 points, 4-7 3FG), Brooke Fields (13 points) and Lucy Covley (9 points, 7 boards), sent the home team ahead to stay and they closed the stanza with a 41-24 edge. Mercy hung around and, with Deasia Goodson (15 points, 14 boards) and Tanayzha Augustine (15 points, 9 caroms) doing the damage, cut the margin to ten points on a couple of occasions (including 64-54 with 2:40 left) but the mountain was too big. Christina Healy (10 points) was also in double digits for Roberts Wesleyan, which pounded the glass (59-45) and forced five more turnovers (14-9), leading to a 24-12 gap in points-off-TO’s. The Redhawks have now won three in a row while Mercy has dropped its last three outings.
STAC boosts playoff hopes …
- Jenna Erickson (20 points, 6-10 3FG) led St. Thomas Aquinas to a valuable ECC win at Daemen, 59-55, sending the Spartans another game clear of Molloy for the final playoff spot in the loop. Erickson made a trey to close the first half to propel her team into the break ahead, 35-27, and they extended the lead to 47-36 with 12:21 left in the contest. Another Erickson triple put them ahead, 54-45, at the 8:44 mark, but the Wildcats rallied to score the next eight points and cut the gap to 54-53 with 3:51 to play. Erickson sank yet another three-pointer (1:20) to put a pin in Daeman’s comeback (57-53) and Samantha Burden scored with 23 seconds on the clock to ice the win (59-53). Kaitlyn McCue added 14 points and 13 boards for STAC as they forced seven more miscues (17-10) and profited to the tune of 14-1 in points-off-TO’s. Sarah Saba (16 points, 11 boards), Shy Britton (14 points, 9 rebounds, 8 rejections), Raeann Stilwell (10 points) and Natalie Galus (6 points, 14 caroms) supplied the bulk of the Daemen numbers but they were under par from deep (4-21 3FG; STAC 6-18 3FG, thanks to Erickson) and couldn’t get the lead in the final minutes when they had the opportunity. The Spartans have won three straight and lead Molloy by one game in the loss column for the #6 slot in the ECC.