Women's Basketball Loses to #4 SCSU 83-63

BRYANT WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

February 17, 2007

Bryant Women's Basketball Loses to #4 SCSU 83-63

NEW HAVEN, CT. - The Bryant women's basketball team closed out its road portion of the regular season with an 83-63 loss to the fourth-ranked Southern Connecticut State Owls Saturday afternoon.

With one regular season game remaining before the conference tournament, the Bulldogs sit in seventh place one game behind sixth place and one game ahead of eighth-ranked Franklin Pierce.

Kelsey O'Keefe (Warren, Mass.) led the Bulldogs in the loss, scoring 23 points, three short of her career high, including 15 in the second half.

The Bulldogs traded basket-for-basket with SCSU in the first ten minutes of the game, but the Owls would take over as they used a 16-4 run over the final 8:07 of the first half to head into the locker room with a 19-point lead at 43-24. Bryant turned the ball over 13 times in the first half, while the Owls shot 63% from the field and 67% from behind the arc in the first 20 minutes. The Bulldogs shot well, at 52% in the first half, but turnover doomed them.

Bryant went the first 23 minutes without getting to the free throw line until Lynne-Ann Kokoski (Hatfield, Mass.) got to the line and converted both shots. Kokoski had a strong game, posting 11 points.

Joanna Skiba (Providence, RI) added seven points, moving into fifth on the Bryant all-time scoring list. She now has 1,317 career points.

Four different Owls scored in double figures led by Boston College transfer Shamika Jackson who totaled 19 in the game.

SCSU (24-2, 19-2 NE-10), which lost Thursday to Pace, has clinched the top seed in the upcoming conference tournament by capturing the regular season championship.

Bryant (17-9, 13-8 NE-10) will close out its regular season at home Tuesday against Merrimack College at 5:30 p.m. Before the game, the four Bulldog seniors will be honored.