Bulldogs win fourth-straight quarterfinal, top Mount, 59-47

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University women's basketball team stamped its ticket to its fourth-straight Northeast Conference semifinal after defeating Mount St. Mary's, 59-47, in the quarterfinals on Sunday afternoon.

The Bulldogs' (17-13, 11-7 NEC) victory came in the wake of a dominant fourth quarter, in which Bryant outscored the Mount (12-18, 10-8 NEC), 19-6. Bryant earned the lead back at the start of the fourth off NEC All-Rookie Team selection Sydney Holloway's (Morgantown, W. Va.) lefty lay-in, before sophomore Kierra Palmer (Aberdeen, Md.) stroked one from the top of the key to elevate Bryant to a four-point edge, 45-41, with 8:40 to go. The Black and Gold found its largest lead of the game up to the 6:56 mark in the fourth, 47-41, when Palmer poked the ball away and dribbled full court, finding Holloway for the layup in transition. Mount continued to unravel in the fourth, as the Bulldogs capitalized, outscoring the Mount, 12-5, in the final four minutes. The Bulldogs' 59-47 victory marked the hosts' fourth-straight quarterfinal win and they will head to No. 2 Sacred Heart for the NEC Semifinals on Wednesday, March 8, at 7 p.m.

Aside from winning the game, the Bulldogs crushed the Mount on the boards, outrebounding the visitors, 45-25, while holding the Mount to zero second-chance points, as the Bulldogs finished with 16. Junior Naomi Ashley's (Hamilton, Ont.) headed the Bulldogs' rebounding efforts, tying her career-best 12, which she set just last game.

The Bulldogs outshot the Mount from the field and from three, connecting on 39.3 percent from the field and a season-high 57.1 percent from behind the arc. Sophomore Haley Connors (West Hartford, Conn.) went 3-for-4 from deep and Palmer went 3-for-6, while the team finished 8-for-14.

Palmer's three triples helped her to finish with 10 points, while Holloway also added 10 off the bench to lead Bryant in scoring. Palmer also dished out eight helpers, while Holloway grabbed six boards. Second Team All-NEC selection, senior Alexis Carter finished with a game-high 21 points, including 10-straight in the third quarter. The swing player went 7-for-15 from the floor, 1-for-4 from three and 6-for-7 from the stripe. Carter also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds in 33 minutes of play.

To open the Bulldogs' scoring efforts in the first, senior Chanel Ramcharran (Pickering, Ont.) and Palmer both found senior Morgan Olander (Mansfield, Conn.) in transition for lefty layups, as the Black and Gold took a two-point edge, 6-4, at the first media timeout. The Bryant lead was short lived after the Mount went on an 11-0 run to take its largest lead of the quarter, 15-6, with 2:44 to play.

After shooting 42.6 percent in the last eight games, Connors left off where she ended, hitting back-to-back threes to make it a one-point game, 15-14, with 66 seconds left in the period. Ashley's jumper in the paint gave the Bulldogs a 16-15 edge at the end of the first. During the Bulldogs 10-0 responding run, Bryant forced two turnovers and held the Mount scoreless for nearly three minutes.

The second was competitive from both sides, as the quarter saw three ties and two lead changes. The Bulldogs found their largest lead of the period, 21-17, following senior Alex Klein's (Waterloo, Ont.) lay-in with 6:11 to play. Late in the period, Ramcharran and Mount's Kathleen Belanger-Finn traded threes, marking both point guards' first points of the game. The triples stood as the final buckets of the quarter, as the quarterfinal contest went into the break tied, 24-24. Both teams finished with single-digits points in the second with Mount getting the edge, 9-8.

Ramcharran stroked another from deep to give Bryant the 27-24 advantage, helping the Bulldogs go 66.7 percent from three up to the 9:26 mark in the third. Following Bryant's five-point lead, the visitors enjoyed a 15-2 run, only to be interrupted by a pair of free throws by Holloway. Mount's spirt included 10-straight points from Carter. The senior also added two free throws with 4:48 to play in the third, as she led all scorers with 17 points.

Staring down an eight-point deficit, the Bulldogs picked up its defense in the back half of the period, coming up with a steal and three defensive boards to go along with 9-2 run to pull within one, 41-40. Connors pumped fake and lost her defender in transition stroking her third three of the game as the Black and Gold trailed by one, heading into the final quarter.

The Bulldogs went on to outscore the Mount, 19-6, in the final quarter, solidifying its 59-47 quarterfinal win. The No. 4-seeded Black and Gold will gear up to face No. 2 Sacred Heart in Wednesday night's semifinal game.