By VICTORIA ADDISON
Executive Editor
The College of Saint Rose suffered a loss at home against division rival Le Moyne on Wednesday night in a double overtime thriller that ended with a final score of 76-70.
The Golden Knights led by nine at the start of the second quarter, then the Dolphins tightened the gap. A steal by Le Moyne’s freshman guard Melanie Quijano, followed by a 3-point shot by senior guard VandellAndrade, shifted the momentum at the start of the second quarter, cutting the score to a four point deficit. But, Saint Rose struggled to match LeMoyne’s efforts and totaled a mere two points before the half.
Saint Rose started to fight back in the third quarter, in part thanks to junior forward Staci Barrett’s efforts. Barrett opened scoring for the Golden Knights two minutes in to tie the game at 20-20. She stayed hot throughout the remainder of the quarter, scoring nine of her 16 total points.
Both teams battled throughout the final quarter. With two seconds left, and Le Moyne up by a score of 52-49, freshman guard Ashley Vanderwall sent the game into overtime with a three point shot.
“My teammate got me the ball and I knew I had to knock it down if I wanted us to get into overtime, so I did the best I could and it went in,”Vanderwall said.
Vanderwall made three of her five 3-point attempts and finished with 13 points and five rebounds.
“We had our ups and downs, but I think that we all worked really hard and we tried the best that we could,” she said.
Despite Saint Rose’s efforts during regulation, playing errors in overtime cost them the game.
“We had some terrible turnovers and poor shot selection, but energy was terrific, effort was terrific. We just need to be smarter,” said head coach Karen Haag.
With five games left in the season, the Golden Knights currently stand at 14-8 overall and 8-7 in the division.
“I was happier with how we played today than I have been our last two outings. I don’t think that we played with good energy last Saturday, so I thought we played with great energy tonight,” Coach Haag said. “I thought our defense was super, but again too many mental mistakes from kids in key roles that we couldn’t withstand in this tight game.”
Next up for the Golden Knights is an at home match up against fellow Northeast-10 division member New Haven on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 1:30 p.m.
