Syracuse, N.Y. – The Le Moyne College women's basketball team dropped their final non-conference matchup of the season against Princeton University on Sunday afternoon at Ted Grant Court by a score of 66-55.

The Princeton Tigers, who were previously included in the Associated Press Top 25 Rankings earlier this year after winning an NCAA Tournament game last season, held a 10-point lead at halftime and absorbed a third quarter run by Le Moyne that made it a two-point game with 3:03 left in the period before shooting 10-15 from the field in the final 12:05 of game action to record an 11-point victory and improve their record to 10-3 this season.

Postgame comments from Le Moyne head coach Mary Grimes:



Reading the Box Score:
Sophomore guards Kaia Goode (Rochester, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) and Sierra Linnin (Valley Cottage, N.Y./Albertus Magnus) each scored in double figures for Le Moyne during the setback. Goode scored a team-high 13 points with a game-high six assists in 34 minutes of action, while Linnin recorded 12 points on 4-6 shooting from three-point range and grabbed a career-high four steals in 30 minutes played.

Le Moyne fifth-year guard Lytoya Baker (Rochester, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) provided eight points and seven rebounds, while graduate guard Sydney Lusher (Oneida, N.Y./Oneida) contributed seven points, three rebounds, three assists and came away with a career-high five steals for the second consecutive game.

Junior forward Brianna Williams (Brampton, Ontario/Southwest Academy/Hartford) also scored seven points for Le Moyne to go along with four rebounds, and redshirt-junior forward Haedyn Roberts (Holland Patent, N.Y./Holland Patent added six points with a team-high four made free throws.

The Tigers were led in scoring by freshman guard Ashley Chea who shot 5-7 from three-point range in 17 minutes off the bench. 2022-23 Ivy League Player of the Year Kaitlyn Chen provided 10 points, three assists and two steals on Sunday for Princeton, while the reigning Ivy Co-Defensive Player of the Year Ellie Mitchell tallied seven points, a team-high five assists and a game-high nine rebounds with one block and a steal.

Princeton had 12 different players score during the contest, and totaled 41 bench points. The Tigers also pulled down 17 offensive rebounds compared to six for the Dolphins.

Le Moyne, which was coming off a nine-game road stretch, shot a season-best 46.5% from the field on Sunday at Ted Grant Court, including a season-best 53.8% from three-point land (7-13). Le Moyne recorded a season-high 14 steals and tallied 21 points off of Princeton's 20 turnovers.

Including Thursday's game at Pittsburgh when the Dolphins forced the Panthers into 21 turnovers, Le Moyne has forced its opponents into at least 20 turnovers in each of its last two contests.

As a team the Dolphins dished out 12 assists on Sunday, which was one short of their season-best 13 assists recorded at Pittsburgh.

Princeton tallied 20 assists on their 26 made field goals.

The Dolphins shot 6-11 from the field in the third quarter and trimmed their deficit to 39-37 with just over three minutes left in the period, but the Tigers ended the quarter on an 11-2 run to take a 50-
39 lead going into the fourth. Both teams scored 16 points in the final 10-minute frame.

Following their 13-game non-conference slate, Le Moyne will begin its 16-game Northeast Conference schedule on Saturday at home against FDU at 2:00 p.m.

How it happened:
Following a slow start for both sides in the opening minutes of the first quarter, Princeton used a barrage of five consecutive made three pointers to open up a 17-5 lead with 2:37 left in the quarter.

With 1:29 left in the first, following a made free throw from Williams, Linnin received a pass from Goode on the right wing and swished her first long distance attempt of the afternoon, then during the next Le Moyne possession Linnin drove to her left and kicked the ball out to Lusher who faced up her defender and buried a triple. Linnin and Lusher's back-to-back three pointer cut the deficit to five points.

2022-23 Ivy League Rookie of the Year Madison St. Rose knocked down a contested pull up jumper with 24 seconds left in the opening period to give the Tigers a 19-12 lead after 10 minutes of action.

A 12-4 run to begin the second quarter gave Princeton a 15-point advantage at the 4:39 mark, then Baker drove into the paint and sent a pass to Goode near the right corner, and Goode knocked down her second three pointer of the game.

With just over three minutes left in the half, Le Moyne junior guard Emily Florvil (Brooklyn, N.Y./Nazareth) received a pass from Baker just inside the right wing, gave her defender a jab step and swished a two pointer to make it a 10-point game.

Le Moyne scored their final basket of the first half with 36 seconds remaining when Goode dropped off a pass to Williams in the paint, and Le Moyne began the second half in a similar fashion when Goode drove towards the right block, pivoted to the middle of the floor and delivered a bounce pass to Williams who sealed her defender and scored the left-handed layup to make it 33-25 in favor of the Tigers.

Less than one minute into the third quarter Goode caught the ball on the right wing, gave her defender a pump fake, drove into the lane, converted a floater through contact, drew a foul and completed the old-fashioned three-point play to make it a seven-point game.

Following a three pointer from Princeton junior guard Amelia Osgood with 8:40 left in the third, Baker scored two consecutive baskets for the Dolphins. At the 8:06 mark she caught the ball near the right corner, drove to her left and knocked down a step back jumper from just inside the free-throw line, then Baker intercepted a Princeton pass on the perimeter and scored a fast break layup at the other end to cut the deficit to six.

A deep three pointer from Linnin with 7:07 left in the third made it a three-point game.

Mitchell made one of two free throws with 5:48 left in the quarter, then with 3:14 remaining Roberts caught the ball on the right block and made a contested layup over her defender to make it 39-37 in favor of the Tigers.

In the final 2:05 of the third period, Chen completed a three-point play, Chea knocked down back-to-back three-point field goals, and freshman guard Skye Belker knocked down a jumper just before the buzzer to extend the Tigers' lead back to double digits going into the fourth quarter.

Following two free throws from Belker with 7:39 left in the fourth the Tigers held a 54-39 lead.

During the next Le Moyne possession, Linnin caught the ball near the left corner, gave her defender a pump fake then moved to her right and drained the three pointer to cut the lead back to 12, but Chen knocked down a triple of her own at the other end.

Lusher scored back-to-back baskets with under two minutes remaining in the fourth, then Linnin made her final three pointer of the afternoon with 20 seconds on the clock.