The women’s basketball team played just one game this past weekend after Winter Storm Nemo hit the northeast.
MU was able to bounce back from a seven- point deficit at half and score 50 in the second half to top in-state rival Fairleigh Dickinson, 76-71. This keeps the Hawks in fourth place in the Northeast Conference (NEC) with a 7-4 record in conference play and a 10-4 record overall.
The Hawks matchup was moved from Saturday February 9 to Sunday February 10 at 12 pm, where the blue and white would try and bring the Codey Cup back to West Long Branch. The Codey Cup is won by whichever school is able to win the combined four game series that takes place between these teams on both the men’s and women’s side. Each Hawks’ team won their first matchup against the Knights, so all that was needed was one victory in Sunday’s double header for MU to retain the cup. This would also be the final time these two schools would meet as NEC Rivals.
The Hawks started out slow in the first half, trailing the Knights 20-6 at the 11:29 mark and shot just 25.7 percent from the floor while the Knights put up a 42.9 field goal percentage. FDU lead at half by a score of 33-26.
A big part of the Knights lead was thanks to their standout guard Stephanie Issacs. In the first half, Issacs dropped 16 points going five of eight with four of her shots from three-point range. Brianna Thomas added seven for the Knights and senior Alysha Womack also totaled seven which lead the Hawks in the first half.
After the game, head coach Jenny Palmateer had this to say about Issacs, “Well, actually she killed us in the first half…our second half goal was really to keep her from being able to get threes off.” In the second half Issacs shot just 2-6 from the floor and made only one three-point shot the rest of the way, she totaled 24 points on the afternoon.
The Hawks were led by Womack, who totaled 20 points on the day. Senior Gabby Singer added 12 points and red-shirt junior Chevannah Paalvast, coming back from injury, was right behind her with 11 points.
Palmateer was very pleased with Singer’s performance when she said, “I think for her this is a really gutty performance… she really makes our team go. Invaluable for us today, she was definitely a key to this win.”
The Hawks were able to shoot 64.3 percent from the floor in the second half compared to the Knights 36.7 shooting percentage and MU outscored their opponent in the second half 50-38. The blue and white would go on to win 76-71 over the Knights, sweeping them in the season series. With the win, MU was also able to hold on to the Codey Cup for the final time.
The women’s next matchup will be against the Quinnipiac Bobcats that reside at the top of the conference standings with an unblemished NEC record of 10-0. The game was originally scheduled for Monday February 11 and was pushed back due to Winter Storm Nemo. Palmateer was thankful for the extra day of preparation. “Any extra time to get ready for Quinnipiac is huge and we are going to take advantage of that,” she said. “They are a really tough team. It’s going to be a great challenge for us and I’m really happy to have the extra day to prepare.”
The rematch of the NEC Semi-finals game last season will take place on Wednesday February 13 at 7 pm.
PHOTO COURTESY of MU Photography
