A wild fourth quarter saw the Chestnut Hill College women's basketball team climb nearly all the way back from a 20-point deficit before dropping a four-point decision to regionally ranked Le Moyne College Saturday afternoon at Sorgenti Arena.

The Griffins fall to 5-5 on the season heading into the Christmas break.  The Dolphins, ranked #9 in the most recent D2SIDA region poll, improved to 7-4.

Emily Chmiel scored 12 of her game high 14 points in the fourth quarter, connecting on five of seven shots from the field and making two free throws in the period.  The sophomore post player finished the game shooting 5-10 from the field and grabbing eight rebounds.  Kaitlyn Carter added nine points and had a career high ten rebounds.  Carter and Abbey Spratt led the team with three assists apiece.

The Griffins trailed 47-30 after three quarters of action with the Dolphins increasing the lead back to 20 twice in the first three minutes of the period.  Trailing 53-33 Chestnut Hill started their rally with nine straight points over the next 1:38 to trail 53-42 with 5:40 left.  Carter started the rally with a layup following a Dolphin turnover.  Chmiel scored the next seven points, capping the run with a traditional three-point play.

LC's Kaia Goode sank a three-point basket with 5:21 left to give the Dolphins a 56-42.  Seven straight points by the Griffins followed, cutting the deficit to 56-49.  Carter had a short jumper at the 4:51 mark with Siobhan Boylan adding a three-point basket at the 3:57 mark and Chmiel, a layup with just 51 seconds left.

A single free throw from Saeeda Abdul-Aziz (10 points) pushed the lead back to eight 58-49 with 44 ticks left on the clock.  Morgan Sterner sank a three-point basket to cut the lead to 57-52 and the Griffins then forced another turnover, the eighth in the quarter by Le Moyne.  Chmiel then hit a short jumper to make it a one-possession game 57-54 with 13 seconds left.    The Dolphins' Lytoya Baker (10 points, 11 rebounds) missed two free throws with 11 seconds left giving the Griffins a chance to tie the game but a turnover gave the ball back to the Dolphins.  After being fouled again, Baker made the second of two free throws with 2.2 seconds left to seal the win for the Dolphins. 

Haedyn Roberts led four Dolphins in double figures with 13 points.  Sierra Linnin added 11 to go along with the ten points each from Baker and Abdul-Aziz.

The Griffins finished the game shooting 33.9% (20-59) from the field despite a 50% effort in the fourth quarter (9-18).  Chestnut Hill struggled in the middle two periods, making just 7-for-30 (23.3%) from the field, allowing Le Moyne to build their big lead.   Le Moyne finished the game shooting 39.2% (20-51) from the field.  The Dolphins made one more three-point basket (7-20 LC, 6-25 CHC) than the Griffins and three more free throws (11-18 LC. 8-9 CHC).  Both teams finished with 36 rebounds.  The dolphins had 13 turnovers, leading 24 Griffin points (15 in the fourth quarter alone).  The Griffins had 16 turnovers, their fewest over the past seven games, leading to 12 Dolphin points.

The Chestnut Hill College Women's Basketball team returns to action on Thursday, December 29, 2022, opening conference play in earnest with a game at Sorgenti Arena against holy Family University.  Tipoff is set for 1:00 p.m.