Brown University
Bryant
Brown Women's Basketball Defeats Bryant 79-72 in Overtime
11/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Smithfield, RI- Freshman Lindsay Nickel (Los Altos, CA) lit up
for a career-high 19 points to lead the Brown women's
basketball team to a 79-72 overtime victory against Bryant
University. The Bulldogs were looking to avenge a 64-62 loss to the
Bears during the 2008-09 season, but were unsuccessful as the Bears
picked up its second consecutive victory to improve to 2-2 on the
year.
The Bears displayed a confident and patient offense throughout the
first half and worked the ball inside and out to find good shots.
Ten of 11 Bears added to the scoring in the first 20 minutes of
play, as freshman Lindsay Nickel added six points on two-of-two
shooting from the arc and Christina Johnson (Oakland, CA) also
added six points with a lay-up and perfect shooting from the free
throw line.
Despite Bryant gaining an immediate lead after the tip, the Bears
bounced right back. Though the Bulldogs out-rebounded Brown 24-17
in the first half, the score was tied on two different occasions
and the lead changed hands five times. It wasn't until
Johnson's two free throws at the 4:40 mark gave Bruno a lead
(21-19) that they would not relinquish. The Bears went on
a 15-4 run in the final few minutes of the half to gain a 34-23
advantage heading into the break.
The Bulldogs weren't going to go down without a fight, as
Kristin Mraz netted eight points in the first five minutes to open
the second half, but Brown's offense was just as potent after
the half. Sarah Delk, Nickel and Aileen Daniels (Waldwick, NJ)
all added to the scoring to help Brown hold an 11 point
lead.
However, the Bears went scoreless for nearly five minutes as Bryant
cut its deficit to just seven. That was when Lindsay Steele
(Erial, NJ) nailed a trey to push Brown's lead back to 10
with 13:00 left on the clock. Bryant brought its deficit back to
nine after Lekia Cowen hit a free throw, but Nickel hit her
fourth three pointer of the night to extend Brown's lead to
12 at the 8:47 mark.
Bryant's Mraz hit her third trey of the night at the 7:09
mark to bring the score to 52-45 as Bryant would not go quietly.
Then Brown's defense got a bit lazy and began fouling,
and the Bulldogs slowly began to chip away at their deficit.
Brown's Natalie Bonds fouled out of the game with 6:56
remaining in the period, sending Bennett to the line. Both Lekia
Cowen and Kelsey O'Keefe hit treys to bring the Bulldogs
within four. Sheila Dixon made one of two free throws at the 3:48
mark for Bruno, but Bryant answered right back with a three from
Courtney Schermerhorn to come within two with just 2:51 on the
clock.
A lay-up by O'Keefe tied the game at 60-60 with one minute
remaining, but the Bears answered with a three by Nickel with 56
seconds on the clock. Bryant came right back with a three by
Schermerhorn to even the score at 63-63, and forced Brown into a
turnover to regain possession and head the other way. Courtney Lee's great defense forced Bryant into a traveling violation,
sending the game into overtime.
The Bears scored the first five points of overtime after a jumper
from Passafuime in the corner, a free-throw by Lee and a put-back
by Daniels on a missed free-throw, but Bryant brought its deficit
back to two with 1:31 remaining in the first overtime.
Nickel nailed a jumper and Passafuime hit a three from the corner
to give Brown a 75-70 lead, and a Bryant foul put Delk at the line
with 28 seconds remaining. Delk made both and Passafuime sank
two more to extend Brown's lead to
79-72 and earn the win.
Passafuime netted seven points in the overtime period, and finished
with 11 points and eight rebounds on the night. Johnson added 10
points in the win and handed out two assists and had five
steals.
Leading Bryant was Lekia Cowen with 15 points and eight boards and
Siamone Bennett and Courtney Schermerhorn put in 10 apiece.
The Bears will now travel to Long Island where the squad will
compete in the LIU Turkey Classic. Brown is scheduled to play Long
Island at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 27 and then either Seton Hall
or Georgia Tech the following afternoon.
