NORTH ANDOVER, MA – The Merrimack women’s basketball
team dropped a close battle with Southern New Hampshire 54-52
Monday night at the Volpe Gym.
The Warriors had the last shot down two, 54-52 with nine seconds
remaining after Stephanie Houghton missed two free throws, but
Amanda Shannon’s (North Andover, MA)
buzzer-beating jumper was blocked.
Merrimack trailed by as much as nine in the second half but cut the
lead to two with 1:26 to play after two free throws from Shannon.
After the Penmen extended the lead to 54-49, Tiffany Colon
(Lawrence, MA) drained a three-pointer to cut the lead to
two. But after two missed free throws from the visitors,
Shannon’s final shot was blocked.
The Warriors jumped out to an early 17-12 lead after a
three-pointer from Colon but scored just five points in the final
10:54 as the Penmen used a 14-5 run to close the half capped off
with a buzzer-beater lay-up from Jenny McDade.
Shannon, who tallied 15 of Merrimack’s 30 second-half points,
needs 15 points to reach 1,000 in her career. Colon finished with
11 points and eight boards, while Hannah DeGraffinreed
(Raleigh, NC) added grabbed nine boards. The Warriors
scored 14 points off turnovers and another 13 off second-chance
opportunities.
Merrimack (1-4, 0-2 NE-10) visits Stonehill College on December 3
at 5:30 p.m. They do not return home until January 6 when they host
Bentley at 5:30 p.m.