Skiba's Career-High 33 Leads Bryant to 78-73 Win at Saint Michael's
BRYANT WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
February 14, 2007
Bryant Women's Hoops Defeats St. Michael's 78-73
COLCHESTER, VT - Behind a career-high 33 points from senior Joanna Skiba (Providence, RI), the Bryant women's basketball team downed the Saint Michael's Purple Knights 78-73 Wednesday evening in a Northeast-10 matchup.
The Bulldogs have won seven of their last eight games and are sixth in the Northeast-10 standings with two regular season games to play.
Skiba was unstoppable offensively, sinking seven three-pointers while shooting a perfect eight-for-eight from the line. Her seven threes tie the Bryant school record for three-pointers in a game
Trailing by three, the Purple Knights had the chance to tie it with 16 seconds remaining , but Dani Rayner's shot missed as Kristin Mraz (Johnstown, NY) was right in her face and disrupted her shot.
Skiba sank two more free throws and the Bulldogs escaped with a 78-73 victory.
Bryant took charge early in the second half, taking a ten-point lead, at 53-43, as Skiba and Erin Murphy (Albany, NY) drained consecutive threes forcing the Purple Knights to call for time.
But St. Michael's stormed back, closing the lead four at 74-70, and with 1:47 to play, freshman Kelsey O'Keefe (Warren, MA) was called for her fifth final, an offensive foul, forcing her out of the game.
With 24 seconds to play, Murphy was also called for her fifth foul which gave Jevy Rayner the chance to tie the game, but she only made one of two free throws, and Skiba converted both free throws to push Bryant's lead to three, 76-73 with 16 seconds left.
O'Keefe posted 12 points before fouling out, while senior Lauren Rubenoff (New Hartford, CT) added ten including eight in the first-half.
Skiba also moved into sixth on the Bryant all-time scoring list, eclipsing the 1,300 point pleateau, as she surpassed Holly Grinnell and Heather Chase in the record book.
Bryant went into the locker room leading 41-36, behind five three-pointers and 15 points from Skiba, who was five-for-seven behind the arc in 17 first-half minutes.
Rayner's free throw with 24 seconds remaining was her 1,000th career point.
Due to the blizzard in the Northeast, this was the only scheduled game actually played in the Northeast-10 Conference Wednesday night.
Earlier Wednesday, the latest regional rankings were unveiled with Bryant remaining ninth in the Northeast Region, despite recently defeating Bentley and Franklin Pierce.
Bryant (17-8, 13-7 NE-10) closes out its three-game road trip at Southern Connecticut, who is in first in the NE-10 and ranked fourth nationally Saturday at 1:30 p.m.