Sophomore Jessica DeNicola’s 20 points led the Molloy Lions to a 55-42 victory over the St. Thomas Aquinas Spartans in an ECC bout at Quealy Gymnasium on the campus of Molloy College in Rockville Centre, New York. Graduate guard Amanda Bartlett added 14 points for the Lions. With the win the Lions improve to 7-6,3-0 in ECC play.
Denicola saw the importance of establishing an inside game. “It was very important since we had such a height advantage and post presence inside. The key was establishing body contact and getting goo position which allowed us to get the ball inside so easily,” DeNicola said. “It feels amazing to be 3-0 we have a long road ahead of us but have to keep working hard and together. We need to keep playing hard and together. We need to keep having good chemistry and working the ball. If we play hard and together we will be successful.”
Down 2-0 early first quarter the Lions went on a 11-2 run, led by four points from DeNicola and Red-Shirt junior Molloy Dryer, to go up 11-4. STAC would respond with a 10-2 run of their own to go up 14-13. Trailing by one,23-22, DeNicola hit a lay-up to put the Lions up one. Then on the next trip down Bartlett knocked down a three to put the Lions up four, 27-23, and that’s where things stood at the half.
Bartlett, who scored 11 points in the first half, liked her team’s intensity and the way they played defense. “We are a good defensive team but we always have let downs that allowed other teams to score. We concentrated on everyone playing their role in practice and especially concentrated on rebounding to help us win ,Bartlett said, “We knew that STAC was a good team and realized how important it was to get the win against them to set a tone for conference play. We need to continue playing together and giving 100% every time were on the court.”
In the second half, a jumper by Dreyer gave the Lions an eight point lead,31-23. The Spartan were able to cut the Molloy lead to two,37-35, when reigning C0-ECC Player of the Year Brianna Sloper hit a lay-up. With the score 44-40, Molloy went on a 9-0 run to go up 53-40. The Spartans had no response to this run as Molloy held on to win.
Coach Tim O’Hagan was happy with his team played after dropping the previous two contests. “I was real proud of how our girls performed. I thought they had the right mental toughness that is needed in league play. I thought we had better bench play and our point Guards LA( Laura Rivera) and Megan ( Orlando) controlled the ball with a lead late.”
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