Syracuse, N.Y. – The second-seeded Le Moyne College women's basketball team defeated seventh-seeded Stonehill College by a score of 79-59 in the Quarterfinals of the Northeast Conference Tournament on Monday night at Ted Grant Court.

Fifth-year guard Lytoya Baker (Rochester, N.Y./Bishop Kearney), sophomore guard Sierra Linnin (Valley Cottage, N.Y./Albertus Magnus) and redshirt-junior forward Haedyn Roberts (Holland Patent, N.Y./Holland Patent) each scored in double figures for Le Moyne during the win.

Baker, who was named NEC Defensive Player of the Year and a First Team All-Conference selection earlier today, tallied her conference-leading 13^th double-double with 22 points (on 10-16 shooting from the field), 11 rebounds, five assists, one steal and zero turnovers in 31 minutes played. Baker tied her season high of 10 made field goals during the win, and recorded five assists for the third time this season. Baker now has four 20-point double-doubles this season.

Linnin shot 5-9 from the field, including 3-6 from three-point range to finish the contest with 14 points and a team-high two steals, while Roberts was a perfect 4-4 from the field in the first half and finished the game with 11 points and four rebounds.

Graduate guard Sydney Lusher (Oneida, N.Y./Oneida), a Third Team All-NEC selection, and junior guard Emily Florvil (Brooklyn, N.Y./Nazareth) both recorded eight points, while junior forward Brianna Williams (Brampton, Ontario/Southwest Academy/Hartford) and freshman guard Leah Middleton (Auburn, N.Y./Auburn) each added six points to the Le Moyne cause.

"It was a really hard-fought game by Stonehill," said the 2023-24 Northeast Conference Coach of the Year Mary Grimes. "(Stonehill head coach Trisha Brown) came and brought everything. I mean, for them to hit 12 threes was amazing, but I think we were able to lock down on defense in the second half and really force the tempo on offense and get in the paint, score in the paint. We had 44 points in the paint and that was one of our goals, to dominate the paint, and I think we did today. It was an overall team effort, I don't think it was just one player today who stepped up, everybody did something to contribute to our win," Grimes added.

By going 32-62 from the field on Monday, including 6-14 from three-point range, Le Moyne shot above 50% from the field for the third time this season, and shot above 40% from beyond the arc for the sixth time this season. With just nine turnovers against the Skyhawks, Le Moyne also recorded less than 10 turnovers for the sixth time this season.

The Dolphins will now get to host an NEC Tournament Semifinal game on Thursday at 7 p.m. against FDU at Ted Grant Court.

Stonehill junior guard Sharn Hayward led Stonehill in scoring on Monday with 20 points on 7-10 shooting from the field, and 6-9 from long range. Hayward shot 3-4 from three-point land during the first quarter to keep Stonehill in arms reach, 26-16, after 10 minutes of play.

Graduate guard/forward Lauren Sampson also scored in double figures for the Skyhawks with 14 points, while Third Team All-NEC selection Jada Thornton tallied six points, five assists and four rebounds in 33 minutes played. Senior forward Cameron Ward added six points and a team-high seven rebounds.

As a team, Stonehill shot 12-27 (44.4%) from three-point range, but converted on just nine of their 30 two-pointers and scored 14 points in the paint.

Le Moyne scored a season-best 44 points in the paint against the Skyhawks, and recorded 27 bench points.

Stonehill's most productive quarter was the second period, when the Skyhawks outscored the Dolphins 20-18 to trail 44-36 at the intermission, but Stonehill totaled 23 points during the second half.

Stonehill connected on their first three three-point field goal attempts to take a 9-6 lead with just under eight minutes remaining in the first quarter, but Le Moyne took the lead back with a drive and score from Baker followed by a three pointer from Lusher then continued on a 14-0 run to open up a 20-9 advantage. Le Moyne would not relinquish the lead again for the remainder of the contest.

A pull up jumper from Linnin with just under 30 seconds left in the opening quarter gave the Dolphins a 26-13 lead, but Hayward swished a contested three pointer at the buzzer to make it a 10-point game after 10 minutes of play.

The two sides traded baskets for much of the second quarter, then Hayward scored five straight points to cut Stonehill's deficit to 34-29 with 3:40 remaining in the first half.

Le Moyne then went on an 8-0 run with a tough fallaway bank shot from Baker, a stepback three pointer from Linnin from the top of the key and a corner three from Linnin on a baseline pass from Baker with 1:32 left in the quarter to extend the lead back to 13.

Stonehill then closed the half on a 7-2 run with two threes from Sampson to make it 44-36 in favor of the Dolphins after 20 minutes of play.

Le Moyne began the third quarter on a 12-3 run to extend its lead back to 17 points with two baskets from Baker, a layup from Williams, and three pointers from Linnin and Lusher.

Sampson made a layup and a three pointer around a Baker field goal with under seven minutes left in the third, then Middleton scored two consecutive baskets for Le Moyne around a three pointer from Hayward at the 4:35 mark.

Roberts scored the final basket of the third period with 1:56 remaining on the clock to give the Dolphins a 64-49 advantage going into the fourth quarter.

Baker scored the first field goal of the fourth quarter for either side at the 6:27 mark with a layup in the paint, then Stonehill junior forward Maureen Stapleton got open for a layup at the 6:04 mark to get Stonehill on the board in the fourth.

Florvil came up with a steal and scored a fast break layup with 4:42 remaining in the quarter to give the 'Phins a 73-51 lead.

Sampson's final three pointer of the game with 4:11 left in the fourth cut the Stonehill deficit to 19 points, but following two free throws from Florvil less than a minute later the Le Moyne lead would not dip back under 20 for the remainder of the game.

Full postgame interview with Mary Grimes, Lytoya Baker, Sydney Lusher and Sierra Linnin:


Game Highlights:


Le Moyne is now 3-0 against Stonehill this season, but the Skyhawks still hold the advantage in the all-time series with a 27-13 record against the Dolphins dating back to the 1996-97 season.

Monday marked the Northeast Conference Tournament debuts for both Le Moyne and Stonehill.

With the win, the Dolphins will advance to the NEC Tournament Semifinals where they will meet FDU. The second-seeded Dolphins and the third-seeded Knights will play at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Ted Grant Court.