ALBANY, N.Y. In the season opener under the new quarter layout, the American International College women's basketball team downed the College of Saint Rose in Northeast-10 action Wednesday night at Daniel P. Nolan Gymnasium, 67-52.
AIC opens the season 1-0 overall and the same in conference play, while with the loss the Golden Knights falls to 1-2 and 0-1 to open league play.
With the lead down to five in the final quarter, 53-48, and just over three minutes left in the contest, AIC senior Sydney Tepley (Racine, Wis.) sparked a Jacket run, cleaning up an offensive board and laying it back up for a second chance bucket.
At the other end of the court, Tepley grabbed a rebound off the defensive glass, setting up a Brianna Bishop (Suffield, Conn.) three-pointer to put AIC back up by double digits, 58-48. Senior forward Ebony Easter (San Antonio, Texas) dished an assist to freshman Dana Watts (Rochester, N.Y.) and hit two late free throws of her own to help keep the Jackets edge over double figures and close out the team's opening game win.
Trailing 16-13 after the opening frame, the Yellow Jackets used a 24-7 second quarter to gap the Knights heading into the halftime break. American International freshman guard Alyssa Guyon (Ludlow, Mass.) hit back-to-back three's to open the quarter, starting a 17-5 run. Guyon scored 12 of her 14 points in the quarter, while classmate Jayda Gilmore (Eldridge, Md.) hit two from behind the arc for her only six points of the game.
Bishop, the team's highest returning leading scorer, led all with 20 points off 8-16 shooting and 2-7 from three-point land. Tepley finished with 12 rebounds and six points, while Easter and junior Imania Stepney (Willingboro, N.J.) scored eight and seven, respectively.
Led by Guyon's 14, the Yellow Jacket bench outscored St. Rose, 28-18. AIC scored just 12 points in the paint, but shot 39.7 percent from the floor. The defense held all Golden Knights under double figure scoring as Staci Barret and Ashley Vanderwall tallied nine apiece.
AIC returns to action Saturday, Nov. 21 in the home opener at Henry A. Butova Gymnasium in a rematch of last year's Northeast-10 Championship game against Adelphi University. Tip-off with the Panthers is slated for 1:30 p.m.
