Syracuse, N.Y. – The Le Moyne College women's basketball team improved their record to 3-1 on Saturday afternoon by earning a hard-fought 75-70 win over the visiting College of Saint Rose Golden Knights on Ted Grant Court in their first Northeast-10 Conference battle of the season.

"Every game that we've been in, I feel like every team has brought their best, so we know that going in. It's a battle every game, whether it's a conference game or our matchup against Daemen – I mean that's an important game in our region – It just shows our resiliency as a team. We just fought the whole way, and we've been fighting for four quarters every single game… At the end of the day our mantra is finish strong, and we've been doing that in every fourth quarter so far," said Le Moyne Head Coach Mary Grimes after the game.

The Dolphins held a 39-29 lead over the previously 2-1 Golden Knights after 20 minutes of action, but Saint Rose outscored Le Moyne 22-11 during the third frame to take a 51-50 lead going into the final quarter.

Redshirt-sophomore forward Haedyn Roberts (Holland Patent, N.Y./Holland Patent) scored 10 of her game-high 25 points during the final period, and the Dolphins made nine consecutive free throws down the stretch to start their conference schedule with a victory.

Roberts poured in a career-high 25 points with the help of a career-best 10 made field goals during a career-high 36 minutes played.

Senior guard Lytoya Baker (Rochester, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) recorded her third double-double of the campaign with 19 points and 11 rebounds against the Golden Knights. Through four contests so far in 2022-23, Baker has yet to record less than 11 rebounds during a game.

Freshman guard Kaia Goode (Rochester, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) continues to fill up the stat sheet for the 'Phins. For the fourth consecutive game to begin her college career she scored in double figures, recording 12 points to go along with four rebounds, three assists and a game-high four steals in 36 minutes played.

Redshirt-freshman guard Sydney Lusher (Oneida, N.Y./Oneida) took just six shots in 36 minutes of action against Saint Rose, but she finished the game with seven points, seven assists, three steals, two rebounds and one block.

Senior guard Lexi Gruss (Binghamton, N.Y./Binghamton) started her fourth consecutive game to begin the 2022-23 campaign, and provided the Dolphins with a huge three-pointer during the fourth quarter, as well as stellar defensive play during 24 minutes of action.

For the fourth consecutive game to begin her Le Moyne career, freshman guard Sierra Linnin (Valley Cottage, N.Y./Albertus Magnus) knocked down a three-point field goal.

Linnin contributed a season-high two long distance makes against the Golden Knights and finished her first NE10 battle with eight points in 20 minutes played off the bench.

Sophomore guard Emily Florvil (Brooklyn, N.Y./Nazareth), freshman guard Michelina Lombardi (Wynantskill, N.Y./Averill Park) and freshman forward Tamiya Turner (Howell, N.Y./Howell) each appeared off the bench for Le Moyne as well.

Isabel Sanchez and Catherine Finnerty both scored a team-high 16 points for Saint Rose, while Kaelah Carter went 3-3 from beyond the three-point line in 17 minutes played.

Le Moyne shot over 50% from the field during all four quarters and went 18-22 from the free-throw line during the 40 minutes.

The Golden Knights kept their deficit to single digits against the Dolphins due to timely three-point shooting.

Saint Rose went 9-22 from beyond the three-point line on Saturday, while the 'Phins shot 5-15 from three.

With 5:40 left in the first quarter, Gruss dribbled from the left wing towards the middle of the floor and lobbed a great pass over the defense to Roberts, who sealed her defender above the right block. Roberts turned towards the basket, finished the layup, drew a foul, and converted the free throw to put the 'Phins up 11-4.

Saint Rose scored the next five points to make it 11-9, then Isabel Sanchez drove towards the basket and missed a contested layup in the paint. With two Saint Rose players between her and the basket, Lytoya Baker out jumped her opponents, tipped the ball towards the corner, tracked down the defensive rebound, then dribbled back across the paint and pushed the ball up the left side of the floor.

Baker sent a pass ahead to Linnin, who lined up an open transition three-point field goal and hit nothing but net on her shot to make it 14-9 in favor of the Dolphins.

Carter hit her first three-pointer of the game with 30 seconds remaining in the opening frame, then Goode brought the ball up the court for Le Moyne, put a series of moves on her defender, drew a help defender, then kicked the ball to Roberts on the left elbow. Roberts stepped back and drained the midrange jumper to give the 'Phins a 20-14 lead.

Saint Rose freshman Aniya McDonald-Perry converted a close shot at the first quarter buzzer to cut her team's deficit to 20-16 after 10 minutes of play.

With just under 5:30 left in the second quarter, Lusher and Baker ran a pick and roll on the left side of the floor, inside the three-point line. Lusher drew both defenders and delivered a great pass to the rolling Baker.

McDonald-Perry provided great help defense on the back side, but Baker was strong with the ball and fired a pass to Roberts, who was open near the right block. Roberts caught the pass, pivoted past a rotating Saint Rose defender and finished the layup off glass to put Le Moyne up 28-23.

Baker grabbed a great defensive rebound underneath Le Moyne's basket with 4:32 left in the second quarter, and the versatile senior guard threw an outlet pass to Lusher on the right side of the floor. Lusher sensed a transition opportunity, and pushed the ball up the court, while Baker sprinted hard towards the rim.

Just as she crossed half court, Lusher floated a pass that led Baker perfectly towards the right block. Baker caught the pass in stride and jumped off her left leg for a contested right-handed layup, which she finished off glass to extend Le Moyne's lead to 30-23.

As Le Moyne held onto a six-point lead with 5:50 left in the third corner, Linnin caught the ball on the right wing. Having already knocked down two three-point field goals at that point in the game, the Saint Rose players were instructed to run Linnin off the line, which is exactly what Saint Rose forward Makaela Johnson did.

Johnson closed out Linnin hard to dissuade her from taking the triple, so Linnin delivered a pump fake and drove the ball towards the middle of the floor. Linnin got around the help defender, and drew a foul while shooting a running layup on the left block. The freshman guard sank both free throws to make it 45-37 in favor of the Dolphins.

Sanchez scored a fastbreak bucket for Saint Rose with 2:42 left in the third quarter to make it a one point game, then Goode brought the ball down the court and drilled a step back three-pointer to extend Le Moyne's lead to 50-46.

Two free throws from Sanchez with 1:36 left in the penultimate frame gave Saint Rose a 51-50 lead that they would carry into the fourth quarter.

During Le Moyne's 69-66 non-conference loss to Daemen, Lusher recorded an impressive block at one end of the floor, then drilled a three-pointer at the other end during a pivotal point in the game.

With 9:00 left in the fourth quarter against the Golden Knights on Saturday, with Saint Rose leading 53-52, the visitors got through Le Moyne's full court pressure, and Sanchez raced towards the left block.

Lusher slid over to get in front of Sanchez, contested her layup attempt straight in the air, recorded a rejection, then gathered the loose ball and pushed it up the right side of the floor.

Lusher sped past a retreating Saint Rose player, dribbled to the edge of the paint, forced the last Saint Rose player back to step up and stop her drive, then dropped off a nice bounce pass to Goode, who caught the ball on the left block, finished a layup through contact, drew a foul, and sank the free throw to make it 55-53 in favor of Le Moyne.

Finnerty converted two free throws with 5:48 left in the conference battle give the Golden Knights a 58-55 advantage, then Le Moyne executed on the offensive end to trim the lead back to one.

Goode dribbled on the left wing, with three other Le Moyne players standing near the left corner. Goode spun back to her right and dribbled towards the top of the key, with Baker standing on the right wing.

Goode dribbled at Baker's defender, then Baker dashed towards the right block. Goode had to squeeze the pass between Baker's defender and Lateisha Willis, who was showing help in the middle of the paint.

Goode delivered a bounce pass perfectly into the tight window. Baker gathered the ball on the right block and immediately went up for a layup over Willis, who had slid over to take the charge. Baker and Willis both went crashing to the ground. Baker's layup went off the glass and fell through the net, and the referee called a blocking foul on Willis.

Baker converted the additional free throw to complete the three-point play and tie the game at 58-58.

Baker grabbed a defensive rebound during the subsequent Saint Rose possession, and Goode brought the ball across halfcourt at the 5:00 mark.

Lusher got the ball on the left wing, used a screen from Baker then drove the ball to the right elbow. Gruss slid from the right corner to the right wing on Lusher's drive, and received Lusher's pass with a small amount of space between her and her defender.

The Saint Rose player scrambled to close out Gruss, but Le Moyne's senior guard released the ball quickly and drilled the three-point field goal to once again put the Dolphins in front, 61-58.

Le Moyne stayed in their full court pressure following the made basket and forced a turnover in the Saint Rose backcourt.

The Dolphins ate up 15 seconds of clock during the subsequent possession, then Lusher used a Baker screen on the left wing to get into the paint. With her right foot on the free-throw line, Lusher released a contested floater that went through the hoop to make it a two-possession game.

A Sanchez three-point field goal with 3:52 left in the fourth quarter made it 63-61 in favor of the Dolphins.

Le Moyne got the ball to Roberts above the right block off of a baseline out of bounds play, and the 6'1" redshirt-sophomore forward powered through her defender to finish the layup and extend the 'Phins lead to 65-61.

Le Moyne went right back into their full court zone pressure, and Gruss forced a turnover then drew a foul to get possession back for the 'Phins

A three pointer by Finnerty and a basket in the paint from Johnson trimmed Saint Rose's deficit to 67-66 with 2:14 left in the fourth.

Baker attacked the basket with just under two minutes remaining, but her contested layup hit the backboard hard and missed the rim. Roberts established good position inside and grabbed the offensive rebound then converted the putback layup over two defenders to increase her point tally to 23 and put the 'Phins up 69-66.

Le Moyne got a stop at the other end, as Roberts pulled down the defensive rebound and was fouled. She made both free throws to cap off a career-high scoring night.

Following a Kaileigh Hunt layup which cut Le Moyne's lead to 71-68, Goode did a great job handling Saint Rose's full court pressure and drew a foul.

Goode made two free throws with 51 seconds remaining, then two more with 10 seconds left in the fourth to put the game on ice.

Next Up: The Le Moyne College women's basketball team will hit the road for an Northeast-10 Conference matchup with Adelphi in Garden City on Tuesday, November 22.