Lady Panthers Suffer an Early Exit

Lady Panthers Suffer an Early Exit

Kam Towle
For The Clock
kmt11@plymouth.edu

On Tuesday evening of February 23rd, the eight-seeded Plymouth State Women’s Basketball team took on top-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University in the quarterfinal round of the Little East Conference Tournament on ECU’s home court, Geissler Gymnasium. Although PSU came out hot and played with the number one seed for much of the game, their efforts came up short, as they fell 68-58.

In the opening minutes, ECSU jumped out to an 8-2 lead due to three-pointers by Jordyn Nappi and Julia DePoi, and a jump-shot from Erin Brooks. Then, the Lady Panthers struck right back with a run of their own that featured two three-pointers apiece for Ace Lawrence (Middletown, Conn.) and Brittany Roche (Londonderry, N.H.). This helped PSU gain the lead, 16-15, for a short stint in the first quarter, and the frame would end tied at 16.

Plymouth State continued to fight in the second quarter and gained the lead by halftime. All of PSU’s points in the quarter would come from Lawrence, who scored eight, and Senior Taylor Perry (Simsbury, Conn.), who added six. At the half, Plymouth led 30-27.

With 1:01 left in the third quarter, Eastern Connecticut State seemed to be pulling away after a layup by Jill Ritrosky gave them a lead of 46-37, but then PSU responded with a Roche three-pointer, assisted by Savannah Miller (Smithtown, NY), and a layup by Lawrence, and the lead was cut to 46-42.

Lawrence would convert on a layup with 6:44 remaining in the game, which brought the score to 55-50 in favor of ECSU. After that, ECSU would go on quick 6-0 run over a minute and a half stretch, and that would prove be the difference. The Lady Panthers fell down 61-50 and couldn’t recover. The eventual score would come to 68-58 and PSU’s season ended.

The Panthers ended the season with one of their better performances, never letting the top-seeded ECSU, who beat PSU by an average of 28 points in the regular season, pull away until late in the game.

ECSU was led by 18 points from Nappi. Ritrosky stuffed the stat sheet with 17 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists, and DePoi added 13 points and 14 rebounds.

Lawrence led Plymouth State, matching her season-high of 26 points. Roche scored 14 points, including four three-pointers, and Perry scored 10 points in her final game for PSU. Miller also added five assists, five steals, and four rebounds.

Lawrence finished the year as PSU’s top scorer for the second straight year. She scored 336 points, averaging 12.9 PPG, and finished 9th in the LEC in scoring. Junior Kayla Wyland (Melrose, Mass.) led the team with 167 rebounds, finished in the top 20 in scoring in the LEC, and had three double-doubles on the year.

Perry finishes her career with 722 points in 98 games played, and averaged 7.4 PPG for her career. In her final season, she posted career bests in points with 214, and rebounds with 53.

Plymouth State ends the 2015-16 season with a 6-20 overall record, matching last season's final record. ECSU improves to 20-6 (12-4 LEC) and will advance to the Final Four, facing the five-seed, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

CLOCK PHOTO/ALEX CROSSLEY