HAMDEN, Conn. - The Monmouth University women's basketball team fell to Quinnipiac University, 78-69 in Northeast Conference action on Thursday evening at the TD Bank Sports Center. The loss drops MU to 15-13 overall and 10-7 in the league, while the Bobcats improve to 11-17 and 6-11 in conference play.
Freshman Abby Martin (Maplewood, N.J. /Columbia) led the way with 15 points, six rebounds and three assists for Monmouth, while fellow newcomer Erin Rooney (Christchurch, N.Z. /Marian College) added 12 points. Gabby Singer (Harrisburg, Pa. /Central Dauphin) contributed 10 points, five rebounds and two steals for the Hawks.
The Bobcats took an early 9-5 lead, paced by back-to-back buckets in the paint from redshirt junior center Courtney Kaminski, with 15:50 left in the first half. MU used a 6-0 scoring run, powered by a pair of hoops from Martin, to get back in the contest and take an 11-9 lead with 13:30 remaining in the opening half.
Quinnipiac used an 18-4 scoring run, led by six points from Ryann Simmons and five from Kaminski, to take a 27-15 lead with 9:06 left before intermission.
Despite a first half buzzer-beating triple from freshman Adriana Allen (Ajax, Ont. /Pickering), MU trailed Quinnipiac 38-29 at halftime. The Bobcats outscored Monmouth 26-8 in the paint and 13-4 off of turnovers in the first half. Martin led the Hawks with eight first half points, while Simmons paced the Bobcats with 10 before halftime.
The Hawks began the second half on a 7-0 scoring run, started by a Rooney three-pointer, to cut the host's lead to 38-36 with 18:22 left in the game. Junior Chanel Gomez (Perth Amboy, N.J. /Perth Amboy [Brookdale]) stripped Kaminski beyond the three-point arc, corralled the ball near half court, and converted a fast break lay-in to give MU a 41-40 lead, its first advantage since the 13:34 mark of the first half, with 15:20 remaining in the game.
The two squads went back and forth throughout the second half, each trading small leads, until Quinnipiac took a 65-59 lead with 6:05 left after six points in a row from Kaminski.
Allen added nine points and four rebounds off the bench for MU, while Canady chipped in with eight points, five boards and four assists. Freshman Alysha Womack (Springfield, Pa. /Cardinal O'Hara) added seven points and six boards while Carly Thibault (East Lyme, Conn. /East Lyme) added a pair of three-pointers and three rebounds.
Monmouth concludes the 2009-10 regular season on Saturday afternoon when it hosts Sacred Heart at 3:00 pm. The game will be broadcast online at NortheastConference.tv, powered by the Pack Network, and Matt Harmon (play-by-play) and Lauren Brill (color analysis) will call the action.
