Women's Basketball Tops Queens, 76-64, For Seventh-Straight Win
Box Score
BROOKVILLE, N.Y. (Jan. 25, 2014) - After two games on the road, the LIU Post women's basketball team returned home Saturday, and extended its winning streak to seven, as the Pioneers beat East Coast Conference rival Queens, 74-64, at the Pratt Recreation Center in Brookville, N.Y.
With the win, the Pioneers improved to 12-4 overall, including an ECC-best 9-1 mark in conference play. The loss dropped Queens to 11-5 and 7-3 in conference tilts.
The green and gold were led by sophomore guard
Chelsea Williams (Copiague, N.Y.), who finished with 22 points and eight rebounds. The Copiague, N.Y. native also came away with three steals in 39 minutes of action.
The two teams played an evenly matched opening half, with no team leading by more than four at any point. With the score tied at 19 with 10:11 left in the first half, junior guard
Ariana Ijaduola (Teaneck, N.J.), who got the start replacing the injured
Kiki Sears (Hampton, Va.), hit two free throws to give the hosts a two-point edge. Just over a minute later, sophomore center
Nyasia Davis (Rahway, N.J.) made one of two at the stripe to put the Pioneers up 22-19.
Later in the half, with the score tied at 24, senior guard
Alexis Peters (Dorchester, Mass.) hit a lay-up to give LIU Post a slight 26-24 advantage with 3:06 to go. The hosts eventually took a 30-28 lead into the break.
Peters led the way for the green and gold in the first half with seven points and four rebounds. Williams and senior forward
Shayna Gatling (Baldwin, N.Y.) each chipped in six. Ijaduola amassed five first-half points.
The Knights scored the second half's first four points to go ahead 32-30 with 19:05 to go in regulation. However, the Pioneers answered with a 13-4 run to take a nine-point advantage (43-34) at the 15:28 mark. Williams had five points during the spurt, while Ijaduola added four.
Queens would fire back with an 11-4 run of its own to even the score at 45-apiece with 11:27 remaining. But, LIU Post showed resiliency, responding with a 13-4 game-clinching run to open up a 12-point lead (69-57) with 55 seconds left in regulation. The run started with Williams hitting two of three from the line, and was capped by two free throws from Peters.
The Knights were led by Madison Rowland, who scored 30 of the team's 64 points in 32 minutes of action. For the Pioneers, Gatling had 16 points and six rebounds, while Peters added 15 points and six rebounds. In her first start of the season, Ijaduola poured in 11 points in 37 minutes of play.
Head Coach
Deirdre Moore and the Pioneers return to action on Tuesday (Jan. 28), when they travel down Northern Blvd. to take on neighboring NYIT in the Battle of the Boulevard. The opening tip is slated for 5:30 p.m.