STAHURA HITS PAIR OF CLUTCH GAME-WINNING FREE THROWS, PROPELS BRYANT PAST LONG ISLAND, 45-44, MONDAY NIGHT

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Down by one point with five seconds left in the game, junior Brittany Stahura (Amsterdam, N.Y.) stepped up to the charity stripe and drilled a pair of free throws to give the Bryant University women's basketball team the late lead and eventual victory as the Bulldogs downed Long Island, 45-44, Monday night at the Chace Athletic Center.      

The late-game heroics by Stahura were set up on the previous Bryant (5-10, 2-2 NEC) possession when sophomore Katie Whittington (Twinsburg, Ohio) hit a 3-pointer with 49 seconds left on the clock to pull the Bulldogs within one, 44-43. Following Stahura's free throws, Kiara Evans made a driving run to the basket in the final seconds of the contest but her layup rimmed out, allowing the Bulldogs to pick up their second-straight conference victory.    

Stahura's clutch free shots capped off a big day for the junior, who matched a career-high with 15 points and also grabbed eight rebounds. Senior Siamone Bennett (Newburgh, N.Y.) also recorded double-figures with 10 points and seven boards while freshman Naana Ankoma-Mensa (Brampton, Ontario) added eight rebounds.  

The Bulldogs jumped out to an early lead on the opening tipoff as Bennett followed a missed shot by Danielle Douglas (Silver Spring, Md.) and put back the offensive rebound for the 2-0 advantage. Long Island (9-6, 1-3 NEC) answered with a 9-2 run, including a trio of jumpers by Ashley Palmer, to put the Blackbirds on top, 9-4, at the 17:03 mark.     

Long Island improved on its lead over the next 4:30 until Ankoma-Mensa and Meredith Soper (Winthrop, Mass.) scored on back-to-back layups, cutting the Blackbird advantage to 17-12 with 10:49 minutes left in the first half. The pair of baskets marked the beginning of a 13-2 run for the Bulldogs as a trey by Whittington gave the home side a 21-19 lead with 7:02 remaining in the stanza. Bryant continued to impress on both ends of the court for the remainder of the half, limiting the Blackbirds to just one field goal over the final seven minutes for a 29-23 lead at intermission.

The Bulldogs benefited from a strong first half as the squad ended the opening 20 minutes with a 21-6 run over the final 11:46. Bennett led all scorers with 10 points in the first half including a perfect 4-for-4 showing at the free throw line. As a team, the Bulldogs shot 41.4 percent on 12-for-29 shooting from the floor.

Both teams found in hard to make shots in opening minutes of the second half until Krystal Wells sunk a 3-pointer at the 17:30 mark but Stahura answered with a deep jumper to push the Bryant lead back up to five points.

The two teams traded baskets and free throws over the course of the next ten minutes but the Blackbirds could not cut the Bryant lead down to more than three during the stretch, until Palmer and Tamika Guz hit consecutive layups to tie the game, 37-37, with 6:38 left to play. Just over a minute later, She'tiarra Pledger hit a short jumper from the corner to give the Blackbirds their first lead of the second half, kicking off a 7-1 run for a 43-38 Blackbird lead with 3:11 to play.

Slowly but surely, Bryant fought back over the next few minutes and with 49 seconds remaining, Whittington drilled a 3-pointer to set up Stahura's late-game heroics.         

The Black and Gold return to Northeast Conference action on Saturday, Jan. 15 when they travel to Sacred Heart for a 1:00 p.m. matchup.