Jan. 23, 2004
Hamilton, NY – American jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first half before Emily Braseth ('xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = 'urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags' />E. Grand Rapids, Mich.) put º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½ on the board with a layup at 18:33. Freshman Molly Patterson (Euclid, Ohio) came alive from beyond the arc draining two straight three-pointers to put the Raiders up 8-6 at the 17 minute mark.'xml:namespace prefix = o ns = 'urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office' />
Patterson’s third three-pointer of the half gave the Raiders a 19-10 lead at 11:15 before Braseth converted a three-point play to increase the deficit to 12. With eight minutes left to play, a three from Meghan Curtin (Bronx, N.Y.) gave the Raiders a 26-12 advantage.
With four minutes on the clock, Milaina Lagzdins (Burlington, Ont.) laid one in on a dish from Curtin to make it 33-19. The Eagles responded cutting the margin to 33-24 at the half with a five-point run capped by a foul shot from Tara Williams.
Both teams boasted identical shooting percentages in the first half going 11 for 29 from the field. The Raiders shot 41.7 percent from the three-point line while American knocked down 25 percent of their shots from out deep. Each squad committed turnovers, but the Raiders outrebounded the Eagles 22 to 16.
American came out hard in the second half with a six point run that closed the gap to 33-30. Malissa Burke (Traverse City, Mich.) ended the Raider’s drought with a drive to the hole at 16:45 to increase the cushion to five points.
º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½ stretched its lead to 40-30 on a lay-in from Lagzdins at 12:50 before American surged back to within three with 11 minutes in the game. Foul trouble proved an obstacle for the Raiders who put the Eagles in the double bonus with more than 13 minutes remaining in the game.
A series of American free throws followed by a jumper from Kim Salem at 8:02 made it a one point game. Patterson knocked down a jumper at the six minute mark to make it 47-44. Less than two seconds later Lagzdins headed to the bench with five fouls.
Burke knocked down two from the charity stripe with 4 minutes left to put the Raiders up by five. She added two more points from the line at 3:30 to increase the deficit to seven before the Raiders lost another soldier at 3:13 when Leandra Fuller (Harrisburg, Pa.) notched her fifth foul.
American’s Kaitlyn Schuyler drove to the basket at 2:43 to put American back within three and Chanel Hunt followed with a wide open jumper to make it 53-52 with 1:47 remaining. Hunt put the Eagles up by one at 1:30, but Braseth answered with a basket of her own twenty seconds later. Hunt and Braseth would exchange baskets once more making it 57-56 with 19.4 on the clock.
Chanel Spriggs went up for a shot with 13.6 on the clock but Curtin blocked the attempt and was fouled by Spriggs. She went to the line but missed both attempts. American came up with the rebound and drove the length of the court calling a timeout with 3.2 seconds left. Hunt took the in bounds pass and drained a jumper with less than a second on the clock to give American the 58-57 win.
Braseth led º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½ with 16 points and nine rebounds. Patterson knocked down 12 points and grabbed six rebounds while Curtin and Burke scored 11 and 10 points respectively. Hunt paced the Eagles with 24 points and seven rebounds. Salem also contributed 11 points before fouling out of the contest.
The Raiders fall to 9-7 overall and 2-2 in Patriot League play, while American improves to 8-8 on the season and 3-1 in conference play. º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½ will finish out the weekend of Patriot League play against Navy at 1 p.m. on Sun., Jan. 25.