Waltham, Mass. - Senior Danielle Wilson
finished with a double double of 23 points and 22 rebounds to guide
the No. 10 Golden Lions to their first ever NCAA Tournament win
with a 62-51 victory over the Bears of NYIT. Dowling now
26-3, advances to play Stonehill in the second round tomorrow
at 5:00 PM. The Bears end their season at 23-6.
Senior Connie Simmons added 15 points with Christine Verrelle
finishing in double digits with 11 point and eight rebounds.
For the Bears, Nikki Jo Rotolo had a team high of 16 points with
seven rebounds. Charlene Riddick pitched in with 11 points
and four rebounds.
After the Golden Lions grabbed a five point lead in the opening
minutes of play, Rotolo completed a three points play cutting the
gap to two, 7-5, at the17:35 mark. Seja Gamble then sparked
an 8-0 Dowling run over the next four and a half minutes to get
their first double digit lead of the game, 17-7. The Bears put up
six unanswered over the next three minutes. The Golden Lions
took their largest lead of the half, 35-19, following free throws
from Verrelle with 5:30 reamining in the half. The Bears,
however, closed out the half on a 9-0 run to close the gap to seven
and head into the break trailing 35-28.
With back to back layups from Wilson and a three pointer by
Verrelle, Dowling pushed their lead up to 15, 46-31, just over five
minutes into the second half. After three points by NYIT's Rebecca
Lynch cut the lead to nine, 40-31, a Connie Simmons free throw put
the advantage back to 10 and Golden Lions cruised with a double
digit lead for the next ten minutes. Riddick grabbed an
offensive rebound and put it back in for two points bring the game
to 55-46. After an enchange of baskets in the final minutes
of play the Golden Lions finished out the 62-51 win.
The Golden Lions shot 40.7% from the field while holding the Bears
to 31.7% on the day.
Dowling will face the No. 2 seeded Skyhawks of Stonehill College
in the second round of the NCAA East Region Tournament tomorrow at
5:00 p.m.
Provided by the Dowling Sports Information Department.
