Old Westbury - 66, Farmingdale State - 61
Old Westbury, N.Y. - In a Skyline Conference women's basketball game on Thursday night, Farmingdale State traveled to Old Westbury and fell, 66-61. The Rams dropped their third straight game and stand at 8-10 overall and 7-4 in conference play, while the Panthers improved to 15-2, 9-2.
OW opened the game by scoring the first 10 points before back-to-back FSC 3's from freshman guard Angeline Klein (Levittown, N.Y.) cut the deficit to 10-6 with 3:41 remaining in the first. The Panthers outscored the Rams 12-4 over the remainder of the quarter to extend their advantage to 22-10 after one.
Trailing 32-15 with 5:17 left in the half, Farmingdale State used a pair of Alexis Antonacci (Plainview, N.Y.) free-throws and a layup from Essence Casey (Huntington Station N.Y.) to close within 13. Old Westbury answered with five straight points on a Destiny Marino (Howard Beach, N.Y.) 3-pointer and Monique Joseph (Elmont, N.Y.) jumper to go out in front, 37-19, with 2:52 on the clock. Farmingdale State closed the half on an 11-2 run as they went into the break trailing by nine, 39-30. Marino, who was 5-for-5 from behind the arc in the first half, led the way with 15 points for the Panthers.
Down 43-32 with 7:02 remaining in the third, FSC used a 10-0 run over the next 1:39, which saw 3's from both Casey and senior guard Kaelyn Ward (East Hampton, N.Y.) to pull within one at 43-42. After a Joseph jump shot on the next OW possession, two Antonacci free-throws and a Casey 3-pointer gave the Rams their first lead of the game, 47-45, with 3:45 left in the third. Tied 51-51 with 50 seconds on the clock, Joseph and junior guard Tori Bellings (Brooklyn, N.Y.) tallied layups to close the quarter and put the Panthers back in front by four.
Early in the fourth and FSC down 56-51, back-to-back 3's by Ward and Antonacci gave the Rams a one-point advantage with 5:27 remaining. After a pair of Antonacci free-throws cut the Farmingdale State deficit to 61-59, OW followed by hitting 1-of-2 at the line to extend the lead to three with 1:33 left to play. Nine seconds later, Antonacci converted a layup but FSC was held scoreless the final 1:24 as they fell, 66-61.
Antonacci led the Rams with a game-high 19 points and had five steals, while Casey added 18 points, nine rebounds and five steals. Ward carded a double-double on 16 points and 10 boards in the loss.
Joseph also had a game-high 19 points to go along with 11 rebounds and seven steals and junior center Charlotte Renker (Mineola, N.Y.) scored 15 points and secured a game-high 22 rebounds.
Farmingdale State next will play host to Yeshiva University in a Skyline Conference game on Sunday, January 28th at noon. FSC head coach Chris Mooney is in search of his 300th career win as he currently holds an all-time record of 299-174.
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