BRYANT WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
February 14, 2007
Bryant Women's Hoops Defeats St.
Michael's 78-73
COLCHESTER, VT - Behind a
career-high 33 points from senior Joanna Skiba (Providence,
RI), the Bryant women's basketball team downed the Saint
Michael's Purple Knights 78-73 Wednesday evening in a Northeast-10
matchup.
The Bulldogs have won
seven of their last eight games and are sixth in the Northeast-10
standings with two regular season games to play.
Skiba was unstoppable
offensively, sinking seven three-pointers while shooting a perfect
eight-for-eight from the line. Her seven threes tie the
Bryant school record for three-pointers in a game
Trailing by three, the
Purple Knights had the chance to tie it with 16 seconds remaining ,
but Dani Rayner's shot missed as Kristin Mraz (Johnstown,
NY) was right in her face and disrupted her shot.
Skiba sank two more free
throws and the Bulldogs escaped with a 78-73 victory.
Bryant took charge early
in the second half, taking a ten-point lead, at 53-43, as Skiba and
Erin Murphy (Albany, NY) drained consecutive
threes forcing the Purple Knights to call for time.
But St. Michael's stormed
back, closing the lead four at 74-70, and with 1:47 to play,
freshman Kelsey O'Keefe (Warren, MA) was called
for her fifth final, an offensive foul, forcing her out of the
game.
With 24 seconds to play,
Murphy was also called for her fifth foul which gave Jevy Rayner
the chance to tie the game, but she only made one of two free
throws, and Skiba converted both free throws to push Bryant's lead
to three, 76-73 with 16 seconds left.
O'Keefe posted 12 points
before fouling out, while senior Lauren Rubenoff (New
Hartford, CT) added ten including eight in the
first-half.
Skiba also moved into
sixth on the Bryant all-time scoring list, eclipsing the 1,300
point pleateau, as she surpassed Holly Grinnell and Heather Chase
in the record book.
Bryant went into the
locker room leading 41-36, behind five three-pointers and 15 points
from Skiba, who was five-for-seven behind the arc in 17 first-half
minutes.
Rayner's free throw with
24 seconds remaining was her 1,000th career
point.
Due to the blizzard in the
Northeast, this was the only scheduled game actually played in the
Northeast-10 Conference Wednesday night.
Earlier Wednesday, the
latest regional rankings were unveiled with Bryant remaining ninth
in the Northeast Region, despite recently defeating Bentley and
Franklin Pierce.
Bryant (17-8, 13-7 NE-10)
closes out its three-game road trip at Southern Connecticut, who is
in first in the NE-10 and ranked fourth nationally Saturday at 1:30
p.m.
