BULLDOGS RESUME CONFERENCE PLAY WITH 57-39 LOSS AT MONMOUTH WEDNESDAY NIGHT

Jan. 5, 2011

WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – Sophomore Meredith Soper (Winthrop, Mass.) scored nine points and pulled down 10 rebounds while senior Siamone Bennett (Newburgh, N.Y.) and sophomore Danielle Douglas (Silver Spring, Md.) added double-figure scoring efforts but the Bryant University women's basketball team could not take down Monmouth as the Bulldogs fell, 57-39, Wednesday night at the Multipurpose Activity Center.    

Douglas also recorded eight rebounds to go along with her game-high 12 points as the pair of sophomores just missed double-double performances in Bryant's (3-10, 0-2) second Northeast Conference game of the season. Bennett had a strong eight points in the first half and finished with 11 overall and also registered a pair of blocks. Freshman Naana Ankoma-Mensa (Brampton, Ontario) added six rebounds including four on the defensive end.

Monmouth (10-3, 2-0) was led by Erin Rooney's 11 points while Alysha Womack and Alexis Canady added 10 points each.  The Bulldogs were impressive on the glass throughout the night as they outrebounded the Hawks by a margin of 38-32 while the home squad shot at 35 percent from the floor compared to Bryant's 30 percent effort.   

The Hawks opened the game in strong fashion as they used four different scorers to jump out to a 9-2 lead in the first five minutes while Bennett put Bryant on the board with a hard drive to the hoop. Despite a few early turnovers, Bryant was able to settle down and tie up the score at nine points apiece, thanks to a short turnaround jumper by Bennett and a 3-pointer by Soper from the corner.

The two teams continued the exchange of scoring runs as Monmouth answered Bryant with eight straight points, highlighted by back-to-back treys from Chevannah Paavlast and Gabby Singer. A few possessions later, Canady hit another three to give Monmouth a 23-11 lead with just over seven minutes to play in the half.

From there, the Bulldogs managed to close the gap with a pair of driving layups by Bennett and Soper as well as an impressive one-handed floater by Douglas in the paint. Douglas came back again at the 3:30 mark with a sprinting lay-in to the right side to pull the Bulldogs within ten points. The Bulldogs continued to keep pace with the Hawks in the final two minutes as the teams went into halftime with Monmouth up, 30-23.

At halftime, Bennett led the Bulldogs with eight points and Douglas added six while the Hawks were led by Singer with nine tallies. Bryant shot 39 percent on 9-for-23 shooting in the first stanza while Monmouth shot 31 percent from the floor.

Monmouth kicked off the second half with an 8-1 run until Bennett once again ended the Hawk's scoring stretch with a basket down low after first faking out her defender for the clear shot. Both teams were quiet from there as they combined for just one field goal over the next eight minutes until Womack broke up the drought, followed closely by scores from Douglas and Soper.  

At the six minute mark, Soper fought through traffic for an offensive rebound after a Bryant missed shot and came back hard to the basket for the difficult putback. The Hawks answered quickly, however, as scores by Womack and Rooney gave the home squad a 49-36 advantage with less than four minutes to play. Despite Bryant's toughness on the glass during the remainder of the contest, Monmouth maintained control of the lead and held on for the victory.       

The Black and Gold return to action on Jan. 8 for their Northeast Conference home opener when they host St. Francis (NY) at 1:00 p.m.