Syracuse, N.Y. – The frontcourt tandem of Sydney Tepley and Kamika Mason each posted double-doubles to lead American International College to a 65-60 come-from-behind victory over the Le Moyne College women's basketball team in Northeast-10 Conference action on Saturday afternoon at Ted Grant Court.
Junior guard
Ailayia Demand (Watervliet, N.Y./Watervliet) led the Dolphins offensively with 15 points in 22 minutes off the bench. Senior guard/forward
Maggie Brown (Cortland, N.Y./Cortland) tallied 11 of her 13 points in the first half, while adding four assists and two steals. Sophomore forward
Courtney Webster (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks East) led the Dolphins with 10 rebounds, while scoring six points.
Tepley registered 18 points and 10 rebounds for her double-double, with nine of the points and seven of the rebounds coming in the second half. Mason recorded 12 points and seven rebounds in the second half as part of her 14-point, 10-rebound double-double. Jayda Gilmore and Brianna Bishop also scored in double digits with 13 and 12 points, respectively.
After the teams traded baskets to open the game, the Dolphins tallied nine of the next 12 points over a span of 5:07. Brown recorded the first seven points of the game, while Webster followed with a jumper and freshman guard
Melanie Quijano (San Diego, Calif./Horizon Christian) capped the streak with a lay-up.
The Yellow Jackets countered with a 9-3 run of their own to tie the score at 14 with 26 seconds left in the first quarter. Ebony Easter made a three-pointer, Tepley converted two shots and then Gilmore made a fast-break lay-up.
The Dolphins, who used their fifth different starting lineup in nine games, got four points from Demand in the last eight seconds for an 18-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Demand hit a pair of three-pointers in the first three minutes of the second quarter to push her team's lead to 24-17.
Bishop and Gilmore countered with three-pointers to get the Yellow Jackets within one point with 5:58 left.
After the Dolphins scored four points in 31 seconds to extend their lead back to five points, the teams exchanged points over the last 4:39 of the half, with Le Moyne's lead bouncing between three and six points and settling at 35-31 at halftime.
Senior guard
Lauren Salzbrenner (Sheboygan, Wis./Sheboygan North) recorded a conventional three-point play to start the scoring in the third quarter and Webster followed with a jumper to give the Dolphins their largest lead of the game, 40-31, with 7:37 left.
American International (7-0, 5-0 NE-10) answered with 11 of the next 15 points to get within two points with 4:46 remaining. Gilmore tallied six of the points, Tepley had three and Bishop made a jump shot.
Following a three-pointer by Demand and a jumper by sophomore forward
Corinne Poitevien (Bardonia, N.Y./Paramus Catholic (N.J.)) to give the Dolphins a 49-42 lead with 3:46 to go, the Yellow Jackets scored seven of the next eight points to get within one point with 31 seconds remaining. Mason accounted for six of the seven points.
Webster gave the Dolphins a 52-49 lead after 30 minutes with two free throws with 16 seconds left.
After the teams traded baskets to start the fourth quarter, Tepley and Mason made shots 2:12 apart to give the Yellow Jackets their first lead of the game with 4:44 remaining.
Quijano made two free throws with 3:01 left to give the Dolphins a 56-55 lead, but the Yellow Jackets scored four straight points and 10 of the next 12 points to claim the victory. Mason gave her team the lead for good with 2:43 left and Tepley followed with a jumper 44 seconds later. Following two Brown free throws, Mason made a lay-up and Bishop hit four straight free throws for a 65-58 lead with 10 seconds remaining.
Demand made a lay-up with five seconds left to close out the game's scoring.
Le Moyne (3-6, 1-4 NE-10), which has dropped four straight home games, closes out the Fall semester on Saturday against The Lincoln University at 4:30 p.m.
