HAMDEN, Conn. ? The Monmouth University women's basketball team fell 57-52 at Quinnipiac in their Northeast Conference opener at the TD Banknorth Sports Center on Saturday afternoon. The Hawks move to 4-3 and 0-1 in the league on the season, while Quinnipiac is now 7-1 and 1-0 in the NEC.
After trailing 55-52 with a minute to go, MU forced a Quinnipiac stop was unable to muster any further offense for the rest of the contest in dropping their first league game of the season.
MU senior Jennifer Bender (Staten Island, N.Y./Staten Island Tech) began the game by converting a traditional three-point play and added four additional free throws to pace the Hawks to an early 9-2 lead with 15:27 left in the first half. After Quinnipiac cut the Hawks' lead to one, Monmouth's Marisa Jimenez (Carteret, N.J./Carteret) drilled a right wing three-pointer to give the Blue and White a 14-10 lead with 12:00 left in the opening half.
After the Bobcats again cut the MU lead to one, Bender fed fellow senior Laura Forbes (Eatontown, N.J./Monmouth Regional) for a slashing lay-in and then found freshman Alexis Scott (Somserset, N.J./Franklin) for a lay-up to increase the lead to 23-18 with 5:31 left before halftime. The two teams then traded the lead over the next three-plus minutes as the home squad took a 32-29 lead into halftime.
Bender led the way in the first half with 13 points and five rebounds while Forbes and Marbely Montas (Cranford, N.J./Elizabeth) each added four points apiece. Monmouth allowed Quinnipiac to shoot 47.6%, the best they have allowed an opponent to shoot in the first half all season. Quinnipiac also shot a perfect 12-for-12 from the foul line in the first 20 minutes.
Freshman Alexis Canady (Forestville, Md./Bishop McNamara) hit a three-pointer on MU's opening possession of the second half and after a spin move and finish from LaKia Barber (Clinton, md./Gwynn Park), the Hawks held a 36-35 lead with 16:58 left in the game. QU came back and regained a three-point advantage at 39-36 after consecutive buckets from Preseason All-NEC selection Erin Kerner around the 16:00 mark. They increased their lead by a point at 48-44 after Kathleen Neyens converted a lay-up with 10:52 left.
The Hawks cut the Bobcat's lead to 48-46 after Jimenez stole the ball in the backcourt and fired a no-look pass to Barber for the basket with 8:18 left in the game. After Montas forced an errant Kerner shot on the ensuing possession, Jimenez came back down and calmly drilled her second three-pointer of the game to give MU a 49-48 lead with 7:10 left. Quinnipiac came back and got eight points, four apiece from Neyens and Krystal Lazos, to take a 54-50 lead with 3:58 left in the game.
Bender led the way for Monmouth with 15 points and 10 rebounds, her second double-double of the season, while Barber added 13 points and seven rebounds. Kerner had 14 for Quinnipiac and Lazos added 10. MU held QU to 41.7% field goal shooting, including 37% in the second half. The Bobcats shot 16-of-18 from the foul line in the game.
Monmouth returns to action on Monday, December 8 when they host Fairleigh Dickinson for a 5:00 p.m. tip at Boylan Gym. The game, which will be televised on MSG, is a doubleheader with both programs' men's teams, and the Hawks and Knights men's squads face off after the women's contest at 7:30 p.m.
