OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. (Jan. 8, 2011) – NYIT women’s basketball faced a tough 74-69 loss to Mercy College Saturday afternoon in East Coast Conference action. With the loss, the Bears dropped to 3-8 and 1-5 in league play, while the Mavericks improved to 3-9 on the year and earned their first ECC win, 1-6.

 

Junior Cierra Baker (Windsor, Conn.) lead the Bears with 16 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Baker was nearly perfect from the charity stripe, shooting 10-for-11. Sophomore Rebecca Lynch (Hillsdale, N.J.) added 15 points and seven rebounds, while senior Alexis Tyson (North Babylon, N.Y.) tallied 14 points and six rebounds.

 

Tyson put the Bears on the scoreboard, 2-0, before the Mavericks knotted the score. From there Mercy climbed to a seven-point edge, 9-2, on five straight points from Simone Williams and a layup from Ashley Borofsky. NYIT fought back and cut the gap to one point, 11-10, on a three-point play from Baker with 15:14 on the clock. However, Mercy continued to control the scoreboard. The Mavericks earned their largest lead of the half, 29-15, on a 13-2 run that culminated on a trey from Borofsky with 7:44 to play. Freshman Demitra Apergis (Littleton, Colo.) responded with a trey of her own to spark an NYIT rally that brought the score within four points with a minute to play. However, Mercy held a 36-30 advantage headed into the second half.

 

Mercy continued right where it left off and pushed to another 14-point lead with 12:55 left in the half. NYIT then produced a 17-5 rally over the span of four minutes to come within two-points, 58-56. However, the Bears could not tie the score, nor take the lead. NYIT fought back again with eight straight points to bring the score within two once more, 71-69, with 31 seconds to play. However, that was the closest the Bears would get as the Mavericks went on to win 74-69 on a layup by Borofsky and a free throw from Talia Beaulieu.

 

For the Mavericks, Jasmine Williams posted a game-high 20 points, while Borofsky and Simone Williams added 17 points each. Ann Butehorn grabbed a team-best 10 rebounds.

 

NYIT returns to action on Monday, Jan. 10 on the road at Molloy College. Tip off is scheduled for 5 p.m. in Rockville Centre, N.Y.