The USMMA women’s basketball team lost to non-conference foe York College, 61-59, on Monday night in Queens. The defeat drops the Mariners to 2-10 overall, while the Cardinals improve to 4-9.
Senior Demi VanDerWal led Merchant Marine with 15 points and four steals, while freshman Tichina Carmon recorded her second-consecutive double-double with 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Sophomore Julie Mall scored nine points and classmate Kelsey Hofmann led all players in the game with five assists.
For York, senior Tamika Taylor notched a game-high 20 points and brought down a team-best 10 boards. Junior Angelika Ruggiano chipped in with 13 points.
The Mariners held the advantage early in the contest before the teams swapped leads five times in a span of three and a half minutes from 16:02 to 12:33. The Cardinals took the game’s biggest lead to that point at 10:19 when a three-point play by senior Stayce Kay Muirhead made the score 16-10. USMMA cut the deficit back down to one with five straight points, but York responded with a 12-0 run to take a 13-point lead, 28-15, and eventually went into the locker room at halftime with a 11-point advantage, 33-22.
Merchant Marine fought back to within five points three separate times in the first four minutes of the second half and then came within on, 39-38 at 13:37, after completing a 16-6 run with a layup by sophomore Rachel Wehlburg.
After falling back down by five points, 51-46 at 6:48, USMMA went on to tie the score at 53-53 at 4:31 before taking a lead on a layup by Carmon at 3:18.
York answered with a layup by Ruggiano and Carmon nailed a free throw to put the Mariners back up. That was the last lead they would hold however, as the Cardinals finished the final 1:23 with a 6-3 run.
The USMMA women’s basketball team is back in action on Wednesday night when they play host to nationally ranked Landmark Conference opponent Scranton.
Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Liebertz Gymnasium in O’Hara Hall.
