FINAL SCORE: #3 Albany College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences Panthers 67, #6 Southern Maine Community College Seawolves 59

FINAL SCORE: #3 Albany College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences Panthers 67, #6 Southern Maine Community College Seawolves 59

RECORDS: Albany College (19-4); Southern Maine CC (23-9)

LOCATION: Penn State Fayette Maltho Gymnasium, Uniontown, PA

IN BRIEF: In a tightly contested quarterfinal matchup in the Women's Division II game between Albany College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences and Southern Maine Community College, the Panthers went 6 for 8 from the charity stripe over the final 55 seconds to advance to Friday's semi-final round.  

ON THE COURT

• Southern Maine jumped out to an 8-0 lead over the first three minutes of the game with a different player scoring each of the four baskets for the Seawolves.
• Albany got on the board with a pair of free throws from Dannie Griffin at 5:47 of the first quarter.
• The Seawolves lead grew to 11 points with 2:23 to go in the quarter with a pair of free throws from Maria Veino.
• At the end of the first quarter, Southern Maine was up 18-9 on the Panthers.
• Albany scored six straight points to begin the second quarter, putting the score at 18-15 with 7:27 to go in the quarter with a Miranda Costin layup.
• SMCC scored its first points of the quarter at the 5:42 mark with an Alicia Hoyte layup to go up 20-15, and then added a pair of layups to go up 24-15 with 4:08 to go.
• Albany quickly answered with a pair of layups of their own to make it 24-19 with 3:36 to go.  The Panthers then added a free throw by Rochelle Whitton to make it 24-20 with 2:06 to go.
• The Seawolves broke their scoring drought with 39 seconds to go to make it 26-20, but Albany managed steal and score by Katie Walker to make the score 26-22 at half.
• Albany came out of the halftime break to score the first nine points of the third quarter and take a 33-26 lead at the 7:50 mark.
• The Panthers pushed their lead to 8 at the 4:59 mark with a three-pointer by Rochelle Whitton to make the score 38-30.
• SMCC whittled their deficit to just three with 4:02 left in the quarter after a Sammie Griffin triple made it 38-35.
• The Seawolves continued their rally, tying the game at 40 with a three-point goal by Kendra Kagiliery with 2:28 to go in the quarter.
• Southern Maine retook the lead 42-40 with 1:48 to go in the quarter with an Alicia Hoyt layup, while the teams traded baskets for the remainder of the frame to end the third quarter in a 44-44 tie.
• The teams continued their back-and-forth battle with neither team taking more than a three-point lead until a pair of Rochelle Whitton free throws gave Albany a 64-59 lead with 34 seconds left to play.
• The Panthers continued to hit free throws in the waning seconds, ultimately taking the victory 67-59.

BEHIND THE BOXSCORE

• Five Panthers scored in double figures for the game, led by Dannie Griffin's 16 points on 6 of 12 shooting, while Miranda Costin was 7 of 11 from the floor to finish with 15 points.  Rochelle Whitton added 12 points and 8 assists for Albany, while Morgan Esperti and Rebecca Foote added 10 points apiece.
• Griffin and Foote pulled down 11 and 10 rebounds, respectively, for Albany.
• As a team, the Panthers combined to dish out 21 assists on 26 made field goals.
• Alicia Hoyt paced the Seawolves with 13 points, while Maria Veino added 10 points and 13 rebounds.
• The tightly contested game saw 10 ties and 9 lead changes.

NEXT UP

Albany advances to the semi-finals to face the winner of Penn State Hazelton/University of Cincinnati Friday at 7:00pm in Main Arena.  Southern Maine will face the loser of that same game in the consolation bracket Friday at 2:00pm in Maltho Gymnasium.