Albany, N.Y. - Unable to maintain the momentum established with Thursday's thrilling CACC home win over Jefferson, the Georgian Court University women traveled upstate Saturday to take on The College of Saint Rose where the Lions experienced a 69-63 non-conference setback to the host-Golden Knights on day one Saint Rose Holiday Classic.
Saint Rose led almost the entire first quarter as the home team grew its surplus to seven (12-5) with 3:57 to play in the initial period. Trailing 24-17 with 6:49 remaining before intermission, GCU exploded for a 17-9 run, capped by a
Jada Atchison three-pointer, to go up by one (34-33) with just 0:56 left on the clock.
The Golden Knights (4-6) reclaimed the advantage 22 seconds later as a
Nina Fedullo's (Jr.-Amsterdam, N.Y.) layup provided Saint Rose a slim 35-34 edge heading into the break.
In a back-and-forth third frame that experienced four lead changes and a pair of stalemates, the Golden Knights fired up a 9-2 spurt to snap a 41-41 tie and take a seven-point cushion into the final period of action. The eventual victors poured on the offense over the remaining 10 minutes, never relinquishing the lead again and growing its advantage to a game-high 11 points (54-43) with 8:10 left.
The Saint Rose tandem of Fedullo and
Leah Dollard (Sr.-Albany, N.Y.) authored double-double performances in the Golden Knights' triumph. Dollard hit 10-of-17 from the floor, resulting in 24 total points (10 rebounds). Fedullo drained 22 points (8-of-10 FG) to go along with 13 boards, five assists and four blocks in the victory,
Atchison, two days after netting 31 points in the aforementioned defeat of the Rams, collected a game-high 25 points (including five three-pointers) en route to the graduate student's third-straight effort with 20 or more points. The Burlington, N.J. native now places second in the CACC with her 20.0 points-per-game.
Safiyyah Lee countered with her second-consecutive (third overall) double-double for the Lions as the senior grabbed 16 boards to go with her 15 points. Lee tops all conference players with 9.8 rebounds-per-game.
Georgian Court (2-7) closes out the 2019 calendar Sunday at noon when they tip off against American International College on the final day of the Holiday Classic.
