BLAUVELT, N.Y. - Despite 25 points and nine rebounds from sophomore forward Mackenzie Lynch (Wayne, NJ/DePaul Catholic), the Caldwell College women's basketball team dropped a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference game at Dominican College, 78-66 Thursday night in the Hennessy Center. The loss gives the Cougars an overall record of 2-5, including a 1-2 conference mark, while the Chargers improve to 5-2, 3-2 CACC.
The first half started out close, with six ties in the first 9:22 of the game. After a basket by junior guard Khaliqa Davis (Newark, NJ/Bloomfield Tech) tied the game at 20-20, Dominican used a 15-6 run to grab a 35-26 advantage with 4:26 left in the half. But the Cougars responded with a 12-1 spurt that put Caldwell on top, 38-36 at the half. Lynch, who scored 17 first-half points, tallied six points and senior guard Shannon Coyle (Matawan, NJ/St. John Vianney) hit a three-pointer to spark the Cougars' run.
Lynch extended the lead to 40-36 with the first basket of the second half. At that point, the Chargers went on a 15-3 run that gave them a 51-43 lead at the 15:31 mark. The Cougars would come within three points after a lay-up by Lynch and another three from Coyle made the score 51-48 with 14:22 remaining. But three-pointers by Dominican's Frankie Melione, Nicole Genzanto and Kristen Tracey carried the Chargers to a 66-52 advantage midway through the second half. Caldwell would get no closer than nine points the rest of the way, as Dominican ended a two-game skid.
The Chargers forced 31 turnovers for the game and held Lynch to eight points in the second half. Dominican also shot 54.8 percent from the field after halftime compared to 34.5 percent for the Cougars, who made 48.1 percent of their attempts in the first half. Lynch ended up going 9-of-17 from the floor and 7-of-8 from the free throw line, while Coyle hit 4-of-6 from three-point range en route to 15 points. Dominican's Adele Laskowski scored 19 points and Dana Rotio had 18 points in the win.
The Cougars travel to Philadelphia, Pa., to take on the University of Sciences in another CACC contest on Saturday, Dec. 9. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m.
