UMass Lowell Ends AIC's Win Streak at Five with 59-57 Victory
Lowell, Mass. - The American International College women's
basketball team's winning streak ended at five after being upset at
UMass Lowell, 59-57, at the Costello Athletic Center. The River
Hawks improved to 12-14 overall and 7-14 in the Northeast-10, while
the Yellow Jackets dropped to 16-10 overall and 12-9 in league
play. Senior forward Alexis Castro (Chula Vista,
Calif.) scored 14 points and became the 17th player in
program history to score 1,000 points.
The loss, combined with Bentley's win at Saint Michael's, means AIC will finish fifth in the conference standings and will host a Northeast-10 championship tournament opening round game Sunday, March 2, at 2 p.m.
The Yellow Jackets trailed for most of the first half and found themselves down 22-11 with 4:25 left in the period following a layin from sophomore forward Jen Valente (Prospect, Conn.), but closed the half on a 15-0 run to take a 26-22 lead at halftime. The run was capped off by a Castro 3-pointer with 0:02 left on the clock and put her at 1,000 points for her career at AIC.
UMass Lowell opened the second half on a 7-0 run to regain the lead and was once again ahead for most of the period. The River Hawks led by eight after a pair of made free throws from junior center Revital Carmon (Bat-Yam, Isreal) with 4:53 to go in the contest before the Yellow Jackets went on a 10-2 run, including eight points from junior forward Stacy Boisvert (Agawam, Mass.), to tie the game at 57-all with 1:11 on the clock.
Castro's attempt to give AIC the lead with 25 second to go missed and Valente grabbed the defensive board to give UMass Lowell a chance to take the lead and did just that on layin from sophomore Rashala Valentine (Cincinnati, Ohio) with six seconds left in the game. Valentine then secured the win by forcing a Yellow Jackets turnover as time expired.
Valente finished with a team-best 18 points to go with six rebounds and two steals and Valentine finished with 10 points, three assists, two rebounds and two steals. Carmon added nine points, five boards and four assists.
Boisvert scored a game-high 21 points on 7 of 12 shooting from the field and a 7 of 10 performance at the free throw line for AIC and Castro grabbed eight rebounds to go with her 14 points in the game.
The Yellow Jackets will close out the regular season Tuesday
when they host Franklin Pierce at 5:30 p.m. in a Northeast-10
contest.