SCORE: UAlbany 79, Merrimack 64
“We knew that Merrimack was a really tough aggressive team that was not gonna go away, we went up by 22 points and you would have thought they went up by 22, they were aggressive and confident. I am so proud of how our team responded.”
UAlbany WBB Head Coach, Colleen Mullen discusses the strength of her entire team.@AmericaEast / @UAlbanyWBB pic.twitter.com/M16vHKfZh8
— Enveonline (@Enveonline) December 17, 2024
Going into Monday night’s game the Great Danes were looking to continue their dominance. They were recently coming off a dominant win over St Bonaventure, and wanted to continue their new winning streak. Meanwhile Merrimack, unlike UAlbany WBB, were looking to snap a two game losing streak. They were looking to rebound from their last defeat from Providence 62-44, and go over 500.
Once the game started it was all UAlbany. The Great Danes had created a 13-4 lead midway through the first period. By the two minute mark they had an 18-4 lead, and at the end of the period they were up 23-9. Kaci Donovan was leading the charge. As she led the team with ten points.
UAlbany WBB leads Merrimack 18-4 at the bottom on the first. pic.twitter.com/QA2ut9bwWE
— Enveonline (@Enveonline) December 16, 2024
When the second period started UAlbany picked up right where they left off. The Great Danes went on a 8-0 run, and shut down Merrimack from scoring. By this time UAlbany WBB had a 22 point lead (33-22), and looked like they were going to run away with the game. As Coach Colleen Mullen stated before, Merrimack is a tough scrappy team, and will not go away easily.
After finally scoring midway through the second period Merrimack went on a 12-0 run, and shut down UAlbany. The Great Danes did not score another point until the two minute mark. Even though the Great Danes went into halftime with a sixteen point lead (41-25), they only outscored the Warriors by two in the second period. Donovan, who led the charge in the first, finished with 18 for the half.
When the second started Merrimack continued to chip away at the lead. They cut the lead down to 13 midway through the period (47-34). It was Merrimack’s defense getting stops, and forcing turnovers that got them back in the game. Not to mention their forward Madison Roman. Roman led the charge with 17, and guard Lydia Melaschinko with 13 were a major part of the Warriors comeback. Everytime Merrimack attempted to make a comeback another Great Danes player would step up. Lilly Phillps hit a three to increase their lead back to 16, and Donovan once again hit a three to put the lead back up to 17 (61-44).
By the fourth UAlbany WBB started to take over, and put the game away.They were forcing Merrimack to sell out, and rotate their defense to the ball which left some players open and the Great Danes capitalized. Kalya Cooper, who the Warriors had been keeping the ball out of her hands all night, ended up scoring the last six points. In the last few minutes to put the Warriors away 79-64.
The Great Danes with this win, are now 10-1, and in first place in the conference, with Big 10 opponent Wisconsin, and SEC/ #4 ranked in the nation LSU. When asked about their next two games coming up, coach Mullen stated that when the ball goes up in the air, it’s like going back to AAU, nobody cares about who was committed where it is going to take us being the best version of ourselves to win these games. Coach Mullen called the Boston U game the get back game. Ever since the loss to Siena, they have been on an anger management tour. Dominating their competition. If this is any indication of what to come, we might be seeing the Great Danes hosting the American East Championship game this season stay tuned!
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