A fourth quarter rally fell short as the Chestnut Hill College women's Basketball team opened their 2024-25 season with a 76-69 loss to Molloy University in the first game of the Women's Basketball East Region challenge at Sorgenti Arena Saturday afternoon.
Bridie McCann led the Griffins with 16 points. Avery White and Tikyra Miller added eight points apiece.
Sara Tamoun had six rebounds to lead CHC while McCann and Tiayo Adelekan grabbed five apiece. White had a game-high seven assists and five steals.
Molloy took a six point halftime lead and pushed their lead to 19 by the end of the third quarter, outscoring the Griffins 20-7. The Lions scored the first basket of the fourth quarter to increase their lead to a game-high 21 points 56-35 with 9:41 left before the Griffins started chipping away at the deficit.
McCann scored 11 over her 16 points in the final period, starting with her three-point basket at the 7:08 mark, cutting the lead to 14, 60-46. Less than three minutes later, the Griffins halved the 14 point lead following a free throw from Kaya Mobley to pull within seven 60-53, completing an 18-4 uprising.
The Lions got the lead back up to ten 67-57 with just under two minutes to go but a layup from White and a traditional three point play from McCann pulled the Griffins within five 67-62 with 1:21 left. Chestnut Hill would get no closer despite Molloy missing four of eight free throws in the final 30 seconds as the Lions hung on for the seven-point win.
The Griffins held a two point lead at the end of the first quarter 14-12 and increased it to four with a layup from Angel Sanders to open the second quarter. The Lions scored five straight to take a 17-16 lead and expanded the margin to six by halftime 34-28.
Sophia Yearwood came off the bench, making four three-point baskets and seven field goals overall to lead the Lions with 19 points. Janel Moore added 16 points and six assists while Rosa Rizitelli and Samantha Muller had 13 points apiece.
For the game, the Griffins shot 43.1% (28-65) with nearly half of their field goals (13) coming in the fourth quarter where they connected on 61.9% of their shots (13-21). The Lions shot 46.8% from the field (22-47). Molloy made more free throws than field goals, connecting on 24 of 38 from the charity stripe. The Griffins meanwhile made just nine of 17. Both teams had 35 rebounds, and the two clubs combined for 41 turnovers (21/20 MU).
The women's basketball team returns to action on Sunday, November 10 when they host Queen's College for the final game of the East Region Challenge. Tipoff is set for 2:00 p.m.
