Joey Motroni – Student Reporter Photo: @thefriesflics
North Andover, MA – Merrimack Women’s Basketball (17-11, 14-5 MAAC) picked up a great win last night in the team’s penultimate home game of the regular season against Canisius. The game was closely contested early, with the Warriors holding a 3-point lead after the first quarter, 19-16. The Warriors would build on this lead and take a 32-25 advantage into the halftime break. The Golden Gryphons of Cansius would hang around in the 3rd quarter, matching their best offensive quarter of the game and their most efficient, with a shooting percentage of 55.6%. Merrimack would pull away in the 4th quarter, outscoring Canisius 23-15, to solidify a 71-55 victory.
How it happened:
The duo of Junior forward Madison Roman and graduate student Oralye Kiefer led the way offensively for the Warriors, each scoring 20+ points. Roman finished the night as the leading scorer with 25 points, Roman finished the night shooting 7-of-13. Canisius had no answer for Roman in the post; she was able to get to her spots, and the Golden Gryphons were forced to foul her often to prevent easy makes. Roman went to the charity stripe 19 times and converted on 11 of those attempts. Kiefer finished the night right behind Roman with 23 points, on 8-of-17 shooting from the field, and 4-of-7 from beyond the arc to lead the Warriors in long-distance makes. Lydia Melaschenko was the third double-digit scorer, adding 10 points with two 3-pointers made.
The Warriors’ team defense also played a pivotal role in Thursday night’s win. The Warriors as a team had 14 steals, with guard Paloma Garcia securing 9 of those thefts. Garcia played with very high energy throughout the game, playing strong full-court press defense, leading to many of those steals. Garcia used that pest-like defense to rip the ball away from opposing players with the pressure created by double teams in the full-court press. Garcia added seven points and six rebounds to go along with those 9 steals.
With the win, the Warriors picked up their 14th conference victory of the season. They will take on the Niagara University Purple Eagles Saturday at noon, which will also include the team’s Senior Day celebration. The Warriors will look for their 2nd straight win Saturday to build as much momentum as possible before heading to Atlantic City for the MAAC Conference Tournament.
