BOX
SCORE
POSTGAME
INTERVIEW WITH SNHU HEAD COACH KAREN PINKOS (Courtesy Pack
Network)
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. - Jenny McDade (Derry, N.H.)
and Ashara Carrington (Marblehead, Mass.) combined
for 41 points as Southern New Hampshire University held off
Merrimack College to post an 81-75 Northeast-10 women's basketball
triumph Wednesday night at Volpe Gym. The Penmen snapped a
three-game slide and wrap up the regular season 13-16 overall and
9-13 in the NE-10, while the Warriors are 11-16 and 9-13 in the
league.
SNHU has earned the No. 11 seed in
the upcoming Northeast-10 Tournament and will travel to No. 6
Assumption for a first round contest on Sunday (Feb. 28) at 1:00.
McDade totaled 15 of her 21 points
in the first half and as 7-13 from the floor while also grabbing
eight rebounds. Carrington scored 14 of her 20 points in the
first half and was also 7-13 from the field and grabbed five
rebounds. Christine Duffy (South Boston,
Mass.) scored 12 of her 14 points over the final 20 minutes and
also matched a career high with eight assists. Andrea
Lozeau (Pelham, N.H.) added eight points while
Sloane Sorrell (Berwick, Maine) registered seven
points.
Gennifer Roy led all scorers with
26 points to pace Merrimack, while Tiffany Colon totaled 15 points
and Kelly Schatzlein nine points and 11 rebounds.
Merrimack took its first lead of
the game when it went on a 22-2 run capped by a steal and layup by
Miller at the 5:38 mark put the Warriors up 63-62. The two
teams then traded the lead three times before the Penmen took the
lead for good when Lozeau was fouled on a three-point attempt and
made all three to put SNHU on top 67-65 with 4:22 left.
The Penmen clung to a 72-69 lead
when Megan Spanarkel (Tinton, Falls, N.J.) found
Magdala Johnson (Sandown, N.H.) cutting backdoor
for a layup with 1:20 remaining. Miller answered with a
baseline jumper for Merrimack but on SNHU's next trip Duffy sank a
pair at the line with 48 seconds to go to make it 76-71. The
Penmen would then go 5-6 at the line the rest of the way to seal
the win.
The Penmen opened the second half
on a 12-2 run and a free throw by Duffy made it 53-33 with 16:48
remaining. Duffy would convert a layup with 12:45 to go that
made it 59-41, but that would be the last SNHU field goal until
Sorrell recorded a putback with 7:43 on the clock.
Southern New Hampshire opened up a
14-0 lead just over four minutes into the game following a layup by
Sorrell and opened up a 19-4 lead with 13:20 to play in the first
half on a three from the left corner by Johnson. The Penmen
opened up their largest lead of the first half, 30-14, on a pair of
Carrington free throws with 6:46 left. Merrimack cut the lead
to nine, 40-31, when a pair of Colon free throws capped a 9-2
Warrior run, and the guests would take a 41-31 lead into the locker
room.
The Penmen shot 50% (15-30) from
the floor in the first half and 48.2% for the game and also made 14
more trips to the free throw line than Merrimack, going 23-36 while
the Warriors were 17-22 at the charity stripe. Southern New
Hampshire outrebounded its hosts 37-34.
