Syracuse, N.Y. – The Le Moyne College women's basketball lost a game on their home court for the first time this season on Monday afternoon, falling to the visiting Penmen of Southern New Hampshire by a score of 73-63.

Southern New Hampshire was without Northeast-10 Conference-leading rebounder Meg Knollmeyer as well as veteran guard Gyanna Russell due to injuries, but the Penmen shot 49% from the field on Monday and found a way to earn a win on the road.

"They had two players go down on Saturday, and I think their players just stepped up. They're a good team across the board even with (Knollmeyer and Russell out), and we knew that coming in. We knew we were going to have to have a good defensive effort. We got our [points] average and they got their average, we just allowed them to get too many points. I talked to them about offensive rebounds, like 'you can shoot whatever shot you want just go crash the boards' and I think we did that, but we just didn't finish our second chance opportunities. So, give SNHU a lot of credit, they stepped up where they needed to. Everybody has got to play their best against us and that's what happened," said Le Moyne Head Coach Mary Grimes following the game.

Adrianna Timberlake led the Penmen in scoring with 16 points on 50% shooting from the field. Graduate guard Karlee Ziliak finished with an impressive stat line of 12 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in over 36 minutes of action for the Penmen. Junior forward Ariana Koivisto provided 14 points, on 6-8 shooting from the field and 2-3 from behind the three-point line, as well as eight rebounds, two blocks, one assist and one steal in 32 minutes of action. Sophomore forward Jessica Knight was the fourth Penmen player in double-figures on Monday afternoon, finishing the contest with 10 points on 5-8 shooting from the field.

Le Moyne redshirt-junior guard Saeeda Abdul-Aziz (Schenectady, N.Y./Mohonasen/Davidson) contributed a double-double to the Le Moyne cause with game-highs in points and rebounds, finishing the NE10 battle with 18 points and 10 boards, along with three steals and two assists.

Junior guard Lytoya Baker (Rochester, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) was all over the floor for Le Moyne, tallying nine rebounds, eight points, four assists and three steals in 38 minutes played.

Erin Fouracre (Loudonville, N.Y./Colonie Central) attacked the goal relentlessly against the Penmen and was able to get to the basket at will during the second half. Fouracre finished the game with 16 points, five rebounds and two assists in 34 minutes of action.

Senior forward Emma Brinker (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) provided 10 points, six rebounds, one assist, one steal, and was the only Le Moyne player to finish the game with a non-negative plus/minus statistic.

The Dolphins scored the first basket of the game when Abdul-Aziz threw a back-door lob pass to Zimmerman, who caught the ball on the block and finished the layup.

Abdul-Aziz drove into the painted area and dropped off a nice pass to Haedyn Roberts (Holland Patent, N.Y./Holland Patent) who converted the layup at the 7:42 mark to put the 'Phins up 4-2.  

Halfway through the first period, Brinker caught the ball in the short corner and dropped off a great pass to Baker, who cut through the middle of the paint, caught the bounce pass and put the ball through the hoop to tie the game at 6-6.

A three-pointer from Ziliak at the 3:21 mark gave the Penmen a 12-6 advantage, but Lexi Gruss (Binghamton, N.Y./Binghamton) answered back with a triple less than a minute later.

Two made free-throws from Abdul-Aziz with seven seconds remaining in the period tied the game at 12-12. Sophomore guard Julia Colby drilled a three-point field goal as the first quarter clock expired to put Southern New Hampshire up 15-12 going into the second period.

The Penmen outscored the Dolphins 20-10 during the second frame to build up a double-digit lead at the halftime break.

With 6:35 left in the second quarter, the Dolphins defensive pressure forced a turnover near halfcourt. Fouracre came up with the loose ball, turned towards the sideline and pitched the ball to Baker who was sprinting up the right wing. With one SNHU defender between Baker and the basket, the 5'9 junior guard attacked the goal on a diagonal path towards the right block. Just as she crossed the three-point line, Baker delivered a bounce pass to Abdul-Aziz, who gathered the ball on the left block and finished the fast break layup to cut Le Moyne's deficit to 21-20.

At the 5:05 mark, Timberlake knocked down two free-throws, then the 5'7 Penmen guard drained a three-point field goal with 4:16 remaining in the half. Timberlake assisted on a Jessica Knight layup with 2:14 remaining in the second period to give the Penmen a 28-20 advantage. Timberlake then drove to the basket and scored a layup to give SNHU a 10-point lead. Koivisto knocked down a three-point field goal with just under a minute left in the first half to make it a 12-0 Penmen run.

Abdul-Aziz stopped the bleeding with a layup at the 0:28 mark to make it 33-22 in favor of the Penmen.

Koivisto drove to the basket and scored another layup with under 10 seconds remaining to give Southern New Hampshire a 35-22 lead at halftime.

The Dolphins started the second half much more aggressive on the offensive end, scoring 27 points during the penultimate period.
Fouracre got busy during the third quarter, repeatedly getting past her primary defender and getting the 'Phins good shots in the paint. Fouracre scored 10 of her 16 points during the third quarter.

With 2:21 left in the third period, the Penmen got the ball to the high post, and tried to make a bounce pass to the left block, but Abdul-Aziz recovered and stole the high-low pass attempt to regain possession for the Dolphins. On the other end of the floor, Fouracre slipped a great pass between the defense to Zimmerman on the low block. Zimmerman finished the contested layup to make it 53-43 in favor of the Penmen.

Abdul-Aziz made another steal at the other end of the floor, and Le Moyne brought the ball into their frontcourt with the chance to cut their deficit to single digits.

Le Moyne missed their first shot attempt, but Baker grabbed a great offensive rebound to keep the possession alive. 15 seconds after grabbing the board, Baker caught a pass on the perimeter, drove to the basket and scored over her defender.

The Penmen scored on their next possession to push their lead back out to 10, but Fouracre drove and scored again with under a minute left in the quarter to make it 55-47 SNHU.

Timberlake scored a layup with 0:22 remaining, but Abdul-Aziz got the ball in the paint and scored to put Le Moyne down eight points going into the fourth quarter.

Baker drove and scored to start the final period, trimming Le Moyne's deficit to just six points.

Koivisto immediately got to the basket and scored for the Penmen, and Timberlake drilled a long-distance jumper with 8:26 remaining to extend her team's lead to 62-51. SNHU scored again with 7:57 remaining, then Abdul-Aziz drew a foul and sank two free-throws for the 'Phins.

Fouracre drilled a jump shot with just over six minutes remaining in the contest to make it 64-55 in favor of Southern New Hampshire.

Knight sank a pullup jumper for the Penmen, and Timberlake scored a layup with 3:43 remaining to give Southern New Hampshire a 15-point lead.

The Penmen eventually earned the conference win by a score of 73-63 to improve to 18-5 on the season and 12-4 against conference competition.

Following the loss, the Dolphins fell to 15-5 overall and 13-4 against Northeast-10 opponents.

The Le Moyne College women's basketball team will be back in action on Wednesday, February 16 at 5:00 p.m. on Ted Grant Court when they battle conference opponent American International College.