FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
11/24/2006
CANCUN, Mexico - The Monmouth University women's basketball team fell to Bucknell 67-53 in their second game at the Caribbean Classic in Cancun, Mexico on Friday afternoon. The Hawks split during their stay south of the border, following to the Bison after defeating Marshall Friday afternoon. The loss drops Monmouth to 3-2 on the season, as Bucknell improves to 4-2.
The Hawks had cut the lead to single digits as late as the four and a half minute mark at 56-48 before the Bison pulled away for the win.
The Hawks were paced by
Jennifer Bender's (Staten Island, N.Y./Staten Island Tech) 14 points and nine rebounds, eight of which were offensive.
Brianne Edwards (Bloomfield, Conn./Suffield) chipped in with nine points while
Veronica Randolph (Deerfield Beach, Fla./Deerfield Beach) added seven points and five rebounds.
Monmouth did outscore Bucknell 30-29 in the second half, but only shot 30.4 % from the floor for the game, compared to Bucknell's 46.8 %.
The Hawks trailed for the majority of the first half after holding the game's first lead 3-0 with less than a minute gone by on a Randolph three-point field goal.
Monmouth found themselves down by as many as 17 points in the opening stanza when they fell behind 35-18 at the 1:31 mark. The Hawks went a small run to conclude the first half, going into intermission down 38-23.
Bender and Edwards led the Blue and White with six first half points apiece. Bender also had four first half rebounds, all on the offensive end while both of Edwards's first half field goals were three-pointers, but MU struggled from distance going 3-10 in the game's first twenty minutes. The Hawks were only able to shoot 25.9 % from the floor, while Bucknell shot 56 % to begin the game.
The 38 points Monmouth allowed in the first half is an opponent season-high.
The Bucknell lead swelled to its biggest of the game at 43-25 at the 16:07 mark of the second half following an Amanda Brown three.
Monmouth then proceeded to outscore Bucknell 23-12 over the next twelve minutes of game action to trim the Bison lead to 56-48 at the 4:39 mark of the game behind a Bender conventional three-point play.
Bucknell then went on a 7-0 run to push their lead back to 15 at 63-48 with 2:03 left in the game following a Jacquie Seawright three-point field goal, and Monmouth wasn't able to significantly further dent the Bison lead.
The Hawks return to action on Wednesday, November 29 when they host Lehigh for a 7:00 p.m. tip at Boylan Gym.
