Amherst Pulls Away From Trinity Women's Hoops In Second Half
Amherst, Mass. - The Amherst College Lord Jeff women's basketball team defeated the visiting Trinity College Bantams at LeFrak Gymnasium, 62-43, in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) action this afternoon. Trinity falls to 13-2 overall and 2-1 in the NESCAC with its first loss in three games, while the Lord Jeffs, ranked No. 4 in the nation, improve to 18-0 overall and 3-0 in the league.
With the program's winning streak record on the line for the Lord Jeffs, the Bantams came out gunning en route to an early 18-9 lead on a three from junior co-captain guard Claire Arnstein (Hicksville, N.Y.) with 13:23 to play. Amherst responded with a pair of free throws from sophomore Sarah Leyman (Cincinnati, Ohio), a three from Shannon Finucane (Cortland, N.Y.) and a tough drive by Kristyn Dunleavy (East Setauket, N.Y.) to close the gap to 20-17 with 11:04 to play. Senior co-captain Yasmine Harik (New York, N.Y.) came off the bench and scored on her first touch to leave Amherst trailing 20-19 with just 8:27 to play in the half. The Jeffs took their first lead of the game at 21-20 on a pair of free throws by Jaci Daigneault (Guilford, Conn.).
On the next Amherst possession, Finucane drained a three from
the right wing to open up a four-point lead. With 5:51 to
play in the half, Arnstein just beat out the shot clock with a nice
drive to the hoop for a Bantam score. After an Amherst offensive
foul, Arnstein tied the game 24-24 with a pull-up jumper in the
lane, before putting Trinity up 26-24 with a baseline jumper on her
next shot. Trinity took a 31-26 lead with 3:32 to play in the
first half on a step-back three from Arnstein, who was
single-handedly keeping the Bantams in the lead. With just over two
minutes remaining in the half, Amherst senior Stacy Brossy
(Lukachukai, Ariz.) grabbed an offensive rebound and found
rookie Lem Atanga McCormick (Chicago, Ill.) for a
score, before Finucane tied the game at 32-apeice on the next
trip. Amherst took a 33-32 lead into the break, with Finucane
scoring a team-high 14 points in the half. Arnstein scored 19
points on 7-for-11 shooting in the half to pace the Bantams.
The Lord Jeffs started the second half with a trio of three
pointers from Brossy and Kim Fiorentino (Holmdel,
N.J.) to ignite a 19-2 run. Amherst held the Bantams to
just 11 second-half points, as Finucane finished with a team-high
14 points for the home team, and Arnstein finished with a team-high
21 points for Trinity but just two in the second stanza.
