ALBANY, New York- The American International College women's basketball team took the floor in the last weekend of the Northeast-10 regular season. The Yellow Jackets took the 82-73 win in their last regular season road game of the season.
Watts led the team with 27 points and eight boards.
Imani Stepney added 19 points and pulled down five boards.
Jayda Gilmore chipped in 14 points and dished out seven assists, her second-highest total this season, as well as grabbing five missed shots.
The Golden Knights changed the scoreboard first with a jumper by Karissa Birthwright as the shot clock wound down. After a turnover on the first AIC possession, Stepney knocked down a jumper a minute in to get the Yellow Jackets on the board. A small 5-0 run by St. Rose gave them the 7-2 lead two and a half minutes into the game. A minute past the halfway point of the quarter, AIC tied the game at 9 when Stepney hit the first of two free throws. The first Yellow Jacket lead of the game came on the next possession when Watts laid one in on the pass from Gilmore. The Golden Knights controlled the rest of the quarter, after 10 minutes of play, AIC trailed 18-14.
Guyon started a run in the second quarter at with a layup at the 8:28 mark. The AIC 11-3 run stretched over five minutes and put the Yellow Jackets ahead 29-25. With 12 seconds left in the half, Stepney nailed a triple that gave AIC the 32-30 lead at the half.
The Yellow Jackets carried the momentum over to the second half as they scored the first six points and forced a St. Rose timeout just under two minutes after the start of the half. Another 9-0 run by the Yellow Jackets helped them build a 12 point lead with 1:20 left in the third quarter. With just 10 minutes left in the game, AIC led 54-49.
Under five minutes remained when Ashley Vanderwall of St. Rose completed the four-point play and cut the AIC advantage down to just one. Vanderwall found herself at the line for two and gave the Golden Knights the 62-61 lead with just over four minutes left.
On the following Yellow Jacket possession, Watts tied the game with a free throw. Watts kept finding herself at the charity stripe as in three straight possessions she scored six points, four of which were at the line. Those three possessions proved to be the swinging point as AIC took the road win 82-73.
The Yellow Jackets will wrap up the regular season on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. when they host the first place Panthers of Adelphi on Senior Day.
