Seniors Lead Molloy to win on Senior Day. Lions Clinch Spot in ECC Tournament !

By Patrick McCormack

Led by graduate-student Delmara Reece’s 25 points and 14 rebounds, her 10^th double-double of the season, the Molloy Lions defeated the NYIT Bears 68-59 on Senior Day at Quealy Gym on the campus of Molloy College. With the win the Lions clinched the sixth seed in the East Coast Conference tournament.

Reece was pleased to get the win. “It felt great winning our last game at Molloy,” Reece said. “We all came out together with fire, because we know how much the game meant. We had too many things to play for not to win. As a team, going into the ECC tournament we need to stick to whatever game plan coach gives us because we proved that if we stick to the game plan good things happen. We knew everything they were doing.”

The Lions started the game on 20-5 run, led by six points from sophomore Courtney Dolnick and five from Reece. Molloy was solid on both ends of the floor, and held a 31-18 lead at the break.  

Molloy came out of the locker room and continued its dominance. A jumper by Reece capped off a 6-0 run giving the Lions their biggest lead of the game at 37-18. The Bears wouldn’t go quietly. A pair of 10-2 runs in the second half enabled NYIT to cut Molloy’s lead to 49-45, but the Bears would not get closer.

Senior Scarlett Demchak, who had four of her six assists in the first half, was happy with the team’s performance in the final home game. “The win felt great; we couldn't have asked for anything more from the team and coaches,” she said. “The coaches had us fully prepared and we played with a lot of heart and energy. I've had a lot of great memories in that gym and it was awesome that for our last home game we could pull out a W.”

Walk-on senior Kristina Luparrello was happy she was able spend time with the Molloy basketball team. “Coming into the gym this morning I felt we were going to play like stars, and boy did we shine,” Luparrello said. “I’m so proud to be part of the Molloy College basketball team.”

Midway through the second half senior Caitlin Wheeler picked up her third block of the game. With the block, she broke her own single season record of 104 in a season. She finished the game with four blocks and a season total of 106, but the record isn’t the most important thing to her.

“The block record is actually really funny,” Wheeler said. “To me it’s just another day playing basketball, but my mom gets really excited about it. She counts them. So, if it makes her happy, I'm glad to do it.”

The Lions open up ECC tournament play when they travel to play Bridgeport on Wednesday.