North Andover, Mass. – The Le Moyne women's basketball team claimed a 74-59 win over Merrimack College on Saturday afternoon in their first NEC road game to improve to 2-0 in conference play.

The Dolphins shot a season-best 51.8% (29-56) from the field, including a season-best 56.3% (9-16) from three-point land to score a season-best 74 points. Le Moyne's nine made three-point field goals is also season-high for the squad.

Fifth-year guard Lytoya Baker (Rochester, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) led Le Moyne in scoring during the win with a season-high 19 points on 8-15 from the field to go along with seven rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Le Moyne graduate guard Sydney Lusher (Oneida, N.Y./Oneida) tied her season-high of 17 points and her career-high of five made threes during the conference win. Lusher was a perfect 5-5 from three-point range during the first half, helping the Dolphins establish a 40-25 lead after 20 minutes of action.

Junior forward Brianna Williams (Brampton, Ontario/Southwest Academy/Hartford) recorded a career-best 12 points for the 'Phins and made her first three pointer of the season to go along with six rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block.

Redshirt-junior forward Haedyn Roberts (Holland Patent, N.Y./Holland Patent) was the third Dolphin to score in double figures, contributing 10 points, four rebounds and a season-high-tying two blocks.

Sophomore guard Kaia Goode (Rochester, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) provided nine points, three rebounds and three assists to the Le Moyne cause.

Sophomore guard Michelina Lombardi (Wynantskill, N.Y./Averill Park) added two second-half field goals and an assist in a season-high-tying 18 minutes off the bench.

Graduate guard Kaylee Thomas scored a game-high and personal season-high 25 points for the Warriors on 6-14 from three-point range and 7-8 from the free-throw line.

Merrimack senior forward Amaya Staton tallied her fourth double-double of the season (the second-most in the NEC behind Baker's five) with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Graduate guard Jayme DeCesare tied her career-high of 10 assists with just one turnover in 39 minutes played for Merrimack during the setback.

Merrimack shot 32.8% from the field, but pulled down a season-best 20 offensive rebounds and scored 20 second-chance points.

Le Moyne tallied 32 points in the paint, which is two points shy of their season-high 34 points scored in the paint against Colgate.

The Dolphins shot 9-17 from the field during the first quarter, with four made threes from Lusher to take a 23-15 lead after 10 minutes played.

The Dolphins tallied 18 assists during the win, their second-best total this season behind the 22 assists they compiled last time out against FDU in their NEC debut. The Dolphins' combined 40 assists over their last two games is the most assists by a Le Moyne team since January of 2020 when the guard play of McKayla Roberts, Liz Millea and Erin Fouracre helped the 'Phins record a combined 40 assists against Saint Michael's and Saint Anselm.

Quotes from Graduate guard Sydney Lusher:
"We just came out and played our game. It was nice that I was hitting shots because it opened everyone else up in the second half. They didn't even need me in the second half. They were face guarding me so everyone else was open."

"We're so much more confident (than earlier in the year). And it's not even just the teams [we're playing], it's just us getting in the gym and figuring it out together."

"I love it in the gym and the rest of the team does, too. It's just great. We're hungry."

Quotes from Le Moyne Head Coach Mary Grimes:
"Kudos to Merrimack, I mean they gave us all that we could handle, but I think we had a really good week of preparation. We've been working in small groups, whether it's two on two, three on three, and we've been making plays throughout the week and I think it kind of came to fruition today... I think we're just very mindful of things that we weren't doing early on (in the season), we were kind of forcing it and now it's just like, 'Oh, that person was open against USC,' but now it's a lot easier to see and we're just playing really, really good team basketball."

"We've just been really focusing on small things in the half court and scoring, and we even got out and ran a little bit today too, which is the way we want to play. But, we just moved the ball. I think we're seeing that extra pass, that one more pass that we weren't seeing early on (in the season). We've been doing a lot of film and watching ourselves as well as our opponents. We just shared the ball really well today."

On the production inside from Haedyn Roberts and Brianna Williams: "It's unbelievable balance that we've had these past two games. Headyn is coming off the bench and Bri is starting, but I don't think it matters. They're both playing and they're both putting in work offensively and defensively too, they're key in our defense and holding it down in the back of the zone."

Le Moyne Highlights:



How It Happened:
Le Moyne scored its first points of the contest on a nifty reverse finish from Williams. Goode inbounded the ball on the baseline to Williams at the short corner. Williams drove baseline, finished a reverse layup on the other side of the basket through contact, drew a foul and converted the additional free throw to complete the three-point play.

Lusher caught fire during the opening quarter, making all four of her three-point attempts. At the 7:07 mark she caught a pass from Williams on the left wing and swished her first long distance attempt. During the next Le Moyne possession, she came off a screen set by Williams, received a pass from junior guard Emily Florvil (Brooklyn, N.Y./Nazareth) and banked in a triple.

A drive and score from Baker at the 5:24 mark gave the Dolphins a 13-4 lead and forced a Merrimack timeout.

With just over three minutes left in the first, Lusher caught a pass from Williams in the left corner and swished another long-distance attempt.

Lusher final three pointer of the first quarter came with 10 seconds on the clock when she ran to the left wing from the right block, crossed paths with a dribbling Goode, received a pass from Goode and once again hit nothing but net to make it an 11-point game.

The Warriors stole back some momentum when Thomas banked in a heavily contested three pointer just before the first quarter buzzer to make it 23-15 in favor of the Dolphins after 10 minutes of play.

Le Moyne's lead once again extended to 11 points with 7:14 left in the second quarter when sophomore guard Sierra Linnin (Valley Cottage, N.Y./Albertus Magnus) grabbed an offensive rebound and kicked the ball out to the left wing for Goode who knocked down Le Moyne's fifth three pointer of the contest.

At the 4:26 mark Staton scored her third field goal of the second period to once again cut the deficit to single digits.

With 3:50 left in the first half, Roberts received a pass from Goode and swished a jumper from the right side, then one minutes later Linnin used a ball screen set by Roberts and knocked down a stepback triple from the left side to extend the lead to 14.

With just under a minute remaining in the quarter, Baker drew three defenders in the paint and kicked the ball out to Lusher on the right wing. Once again Lusher hit nothing but net for her fifth consecutive made three pointer of the first half, giving the Dolphins a 40-22 advantage.

Roberts blocked a shot at the rim during the next Merrimack possession. The Dolphins missed their final shot of the half with five seconds on the clock, and Merrimack quickly came back the other way.

Staton threw an outlet pass to Diamond Christian, who dribbled to half court and let go of a last-second heave that banked in at the buzzer to make it a 15-point game at the intermission.

With 5:10 left in the third quarter, Baker drove into the paint and dropped off a pass to Roberts at the right block for a layup to give the 'Phins a 50-30 lead.

Merrimack scored five consecutive points with a layup from Madison Roman at the 3:25 mark followed by a three pointer by Thomas during their next possession.

Lombardi scored Le Moyne's final basket of the third period when she gave her defender a pump fake on the perimeter then drove to the left block and converted a floater off two feet.

Thalia Shephard drained a triple for Merrimack with 39 seconds on the third quarter clock to make it 56-41 in favor of the Dolphins going into the final period.

Williams scored the first five points of the fourth quarter with a three pointer from the right wing and a jumper in the paint to once again give the Dolphins a 20-point advantage.

Thomas knocked down three consecutive three-point attempts around two Baker field goals to keep the Warriors within reach.

Following Thomas' three pointer at the 5:24 mark of the fourth, the Warriors did not score another field goal until the 1:32 mark when Thomas converted on her fourth long-distance attempt of the period to trim Le Moyne's lead to 15 points.

Baker, who scored eight of Le Moyne's 18 fourth-quarter points, helped the Dolphins close out the win with some timely baskets down the stretch.

The Le Moyne College women's basketball team will remain on the road and return to action on Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, when they take on Sacred Heart at 2:00 p.m.