Second Half Surge Leads Fifth-Seeded AIC Past 12th-Seeded Saint Rose in NE-10 Tournament
Springfield, Mass- The fifth-seeded
American International College women's basketball team beat
12th-seeded Saint Rose, 62-52 in the first round of the
Northeast-10 championship tournament. This is the Yellow Jackets'
first conference championship tournament win since the 2004-05
season when they beat Saint Rose. Graduate student Alissa
Rubino (Port Jefferson, N.Y.) led the Yellow Jackets with
15 points, 12 of which came in the second half, six rebounds, five
assists and two steals. Rubino's five assists
bring her career total to 501, which rank second in school history
behind head coach Kristen Patterson. The win
brings AIC's overall record to 17-11, while the loss puts Saint
Rose final mark at
13-15.
After going into the half down 29-23, AIC went on a 20-4 run that spanned 8:31 of the second half to take a 49-39 lead with 7"28 left in the contest. The Yellow Jackets were down 35-31 when junior Stacey Boisvert (Agawam, Mass) started the run with a layup 4:01 into the period and scored seven of her nine points during that stretch. She also finished with eight rebounds. Another huge part of that run were the two 3-point shots by sophomore Kristin Boesenberg (Pocono Pines, Pa.), who ended with nine points.
Senior Alexis Castro (Chula Vista, Calif.) notched her 13th double-double of the season, knocking down 14 points and collecting 12 boards. Also contributing to the victory was senior Mirlande Francois (Miami, Fl.) with 11 points, eight rebounds and one blocked shot.
Leading the Golden Knights was senior Emily Gottstein (Albany, N.Y.) with 19 points and five rebounds. Junior forward Ashley Anderson (Portland, Me.) led Saint Rose on an 8-0 run in the first half, scoring seven points during that stretch. Anderson also finished with a double-double, scoring 15 points and pulling down 13 boards.
The Yellow Jackets 21 offensive rebounds led to 24 second-chance points, while Golden Knights only had 4 second-chance points on 11 offensive rebounds. AIC also had 13 bench points to Saint Rose's zero.
Next up for the Yellow Jackets is a Northeast-10 championship
tournament quarterfinal game at forth-seeded Bentley.