Feb 15, 2014
OLD WESTBURY, NY (www.OLDWESTBURYPANTHERS.com) - The SUNY College at Old Westbury women's basketball team dropped an 84-83 heartbreaker at home on Saturday afternoon to conference rivals Purchase Panthers. With just three games remaining, Old Westbury (6-16) sits at 4-7 in conference play while Purchase (13-9) improves to 8-4.
Purchase jumped out to an early 9-2 lead, but a succeeding 12-4 run by Old Westbury put the home Panthers in front 14-13 at 12:30. A 9-2 Purchase run eventually put the visitors up 29-22, but Old Westbury fired back, claiming 10 of the next 14 points to enter the half down 33-32.
Old Westbury would take the lead early in the second, but Purchase pushed out in front at 17:02 by the score of 39-37. The visiting Panthers would hold sole leadership of the lead until there was just 33 seconds remaining, although Old Westbury worked hard to keep the deficit manageable. At 55 seconds, Old Westbury down six, began a 6-0 run that erased Purchase's lead, and at 13 seconds Old Westbury would take the lead, courtesy of a Clarissa Gallagher three pointer. Down 83-82, Purchase drew a foul and sank both free throws to take the final lead of the game. At the buzzer it was 84-83 to the visitors.
In a game that was tied six times and saw nine lead changes, much was tightly contested. Old Westbruy did claim victory in most statistical categories, though, including points in the paint (34-28), points off turnovers (26-21) and bench points 22-6.
On the flip side, Old Westbury was out-rebounded (40-36) and turned the ball over more than its opponents (26-24), although the Panthers did grab a season-high 18 steals.
DeAndra Scott was Old Westbury 's top scorer with 19 points, while Clarissa Gallagher pitched in with 16 points and a career-high five steals. Chloe Mellon and Jasmine Robinson each went for 13 points as Raven Pentz dished out a career-high in assists (11) while tying a personal best with four steals. Robinson also added five assists and three steals.
Jazmin Garcia potted 25 for Purchase while Elizabeth Osowiecki contributed 24 (12-13 FT).
NYU-POLY FIGHTING JAYS UP NEXT FOR OLD WESTBURY: Old Westbury continues its conference campaign on Wednesday (February 19) when they host the NYU-Poly Fighting Jays in Old Westbury, New York. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. inside Clark Athletic Center.
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