SPRINGFIELD, Mass. Freshman Dana Watts (Rochester, N.Y.) recorded a game-high 22 points and added 12 boards to help No. 1 American International College defeat fifth seeded Adelphi University, 93-84 in the quarterfinal round of the Northeast-10 Women's Basketball Championship tournament this afternoon from the Butova Gymnasium.
AIC improves to 24-4 on the year and will host No. 3 New Haven at 7 p.m. on Thursday evening in the semifinals. Adelphi sees their season come to an end at 18-12.
With the game tied at 74-74 in the fourth quarter AIC used an 13-3 run which included 7-of-8 from the charity stripe by Watts to pull away with the 87-78 lead at the 2:06 mark.
Senior Tara Flynn (Bayonne, N.J.) knocked down her seventh made three-pointer to get Adelphi closer at 88-62 with under a minute to play, but it was not enough as the Jackets continued to hit their free-throws down the stretch for the final score.
The Panthers came out with a lot of intensity with suffocating defense and strong shooting to grab the 26-19 lead at the end of the first quarter. A pair of early trey's from Flynn ignited the visitors and junior Calli Balfour (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) collected a pair of steals on back-to-back possessions helping Adelphi grab their largest lead of 19-9 at the 3:42 mark.
Watts answered with consecutive lay-ups to help AIC climb back into the game near the end of the first quarter.
However, the Panthers held the Jackets without a field goal for 6:40 of game time between the first and second stanzas before senior Kamika Mason (Long Beach, Calif.) made a move in the lane for a hoop. Classmate Ebony Easter (San Antonio, Tx.) followed with a steal then freshman Jayda Gilmore (Elkridge, Md.) hit a pair from the charity stripe and a bucket from Watts capped an 8-0 run cutting the deficit to 35-33 at the 4:34 mark.
Both teams would then ignite from the field as Adelphi dialed in from long range on four consecutive trips including three in-a-row from Flynn while AIC senior Brianna Bishop (Suffield, Conn.) began to heat up scoring seven of her 12 first-half points in the final two minutes as the Panthers took the slim 50-48 edge into the intermission.
The second half began a little slower as both squads seemed to have cooled off as the third quarter began, but AIC used a 7-0 spurt to grab their first lead of the game, 59-58, after a freebie from Bishop at the 5:17 mark. Mason added a pair of lay-ups over that stretch.
Watts then helped increase the lead even further with a pair of free-throws and a layup while Bishop was true from distance for their largest lead of the quarter, 69-63, at the 1:24 mark.
Mason joined Watts with a double-double of her own adding 18 points and 11 rebounds while Bishop and Gilmore chipped in with 16 and 10, respectively. Flynn paced six Panthers in double-figures with 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting from behind the arc.
The Jackets controlled the glass 43-32 and shot an impressive 48 percent (26-for-54) from the floor for the game while the visitors went 27-for-67 (40 percent) after both teams shot over 50 percent in the first half.
