Brooklyn - 79, Farmingdale State - 66
Farmingdale, N.Y. - The Farmingdale State women's basketball team stepped out of the conference with a matchup against Brooklyn College this evening. The Bulldogs earned a 79-66 victory and improved to 20-5 on the season.
It was senior night at Farmingdale State and seniors Ashley Monzillo (Medford, N.Y.), Charnae Jenkins (Rockville Centre, N.Y.), Loren Smith (East Moriches, N.Y.), Meghan Cleary (East Meadow, N.Y.) and Chelsea May (Baldwin, N.Y.) were each honored prior the game.
Brooklyn opened with 15 straight points over the first 3:41 to take the early lead. After the Rams (13-11) cut the deficit to 17-6, the Bulldogs used back-to-back 3's by Lauren D'Agostino (Sydeny, Australia) and Taylor Gallagher (Rockaway, N.Y.) to extend the advantage to 23-6. FSC's Tyra Harrison (Baldwin, N.Y.) closed the quarter with a 3-pointer to send the Rams into the second down, 23-9.
Trailing 30-13 with 6:55 remaining in the second, a 7-0 Farmingdale State run brought the Rams within 10, 30-20. Over the final 4:24 of the quarter, Brooklyn outscored FSC 19-7 and took a 49-27 lead into the break.
The Bulldogs held a 59-36 advantage with 3:40 left to play in the third before the Rams answered with a 9-0 run capped off by a Harrison 3-pointer to close within 14, 59-45. Brooklyn quickly responded with a 6-1 run after both Tiffany Ruiz (Coram, N.Y.) and Gallagher knocked down 3's to bring the lead back to 19 at 65-46.
FSC's Essence Casey (Huntington Station, N.Y.) closed the third with a 3 and scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 65-53. Brooklyn answered with six straight points to go ahead 71-53 with 8:49 left to play.
After the Bulldogs extended their lead to 76-56, Harrison hit a layup and Kaelyn Ward (East Hampton, N.Y.) connected on a 3 and later a pair of free-throws. Each team scored three points over the final 3:31 as Brooklyn earned the 79-66 victory.
The Bulldogs shot 43-percent from the field and 46-percent from behind the arc as they won their 20th game of the season.
Ward tallied a double-double with a team-high 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting and 11 rebounds, while Casey scored 18 points, had four boards and four assists. Harrison finished the night with 16 points (7-of-12) and a game-high eight steals for Farmingdale State.
Gallagher led the way for Brooklyn with a game-high 23 points and sophomore guard Alexandra Moogan (Brooklyn, N.Y.) pulled down a game-high 17 rebounds to go along with seven points and five assists.
FSC will close out the regular season on Saturday, February 18th when they travel to Mount Saint Vincent for a noon game.
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