Monmouth Hawks (2-4, 0-1) – 45
Niagara Purple Eagles (3-3, 1-0) - 66
NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, NY – Monmouth University's women's basketball team trailed early and shot just 27.0% from the field in the conference opener Friday night , falling to Niagara 66-45 and dropping to a 2-4 overall record. The Hawks shot 17-63 from the floor, including 6-30 from beyond the arc as Niagara's Victoria Rampado registered a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Senior Christina Mitchell notched her first double-figures game of the season, scoring 10 points on 5-9 from the floor. Monmouth will look to even its conference record as the Hawks travel to Canisius for a 2:00 PM start on Sunday.
NOTES AND QUOTES
“You have to just give all of the credit to Niagara tonight. They just outplayed us. They hit some big shots to start the game and we just struggled to score while turning the ball over too much. They were able to capitalize by shooting really well and taking advantage of our mistakes. We have to have a short memory because we have a quick turnaround. Canisius isn't going to be any easier, so we have our work cut out for us. We have to rebound and get ready to go for Sunday” –Monmouth head coach Jenny Palmateer
-Niagara jumped out to a 9-2 lead early on and did not trail after that. Monmouth went on a 7-0 run, cutting Niagara's lead to 15-11 with 1:07 left in the first quarter.
-Niagara went on a 13-0 run from the end of the first quarter into the beginning of the second.
-With just over one second left in the first half, freshman Taylor Nason stole the Niagara inbound and made an off-balanced three-pointer at the buzzer. The Hawks went into halftime down 40-26.
-The Purple Eagles built their largest lead of the game with 2:52 remaining, going up 22 on two free throws by Carolyn Cosey.
-The Hawks went 0-11 from three-point range in the fourth quarter.
-Niagara was solid from the free throw line all night, going 13-15 (86.7%). Monmouth shot just 5-8 from the stripe.
-Monmouth cut the deficit to single digits with 6:33 left in the third quarter, as Kayla Shaw's three-pointer made it 43-34. Niagara answered back with two three-pointers of its own, building the lead to 15 with 4:19 left in the quarter.
NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Senior Christina Mitchell went into double-figures for the first time this year, ending with 10 points, three rebounds, and two blocks. Over her last three games, Mitchell has accumulated 25 points and 25 rebounds.
-Freshman Kayla Shaw scored nine points on another three triples. Shaw has 12 three-pointers in her last three games while scoring 38 points in that span. She also grabbed a season-high four rebounds in the loss.
-After missing two games, freshman Taylor Nason scored seven points and grabbed seven rebounds, including her buzzer-beating three at the end of the first half.
-Helena Kurt tied a career-high with seven rebounds.
-Sophomore McKinzee Barker started her 33rd game out of 35, registering three points, three rebounds, two steals, and an assist.
UP NEXT
Monmouth will stay in New York for a Sunday matchup with Canisius. The second game of the Hawks' conference slate will tip-off at 2:00 PM and will be broadcast on ESPN3.
