Flushing, N.Y. - The Queens College women's basketball team came away from its home opener with a 56-52 win over NYIT on Tuesday. The victory improved the team to 4-1 overall, 1-0 in the East Coast Conference and was their third straight triumph.
The Knights got off to a slow start as NYIT built an 8-0 lead over the first two-and-half minutes of play. QC got on the scoreboard when MacKenzie Rowland scored on a put back from a Melissa Gardner miss at 17:01. The Bears built a 10-point lead, at 12-2, courtesy of a pair of Maddison Campbell foul shots at 14:04.
From there, Queens turned up the defensive intensity as they held NYIT scoreless for the next 4:26 of game time. During that four-and-half-minute stretch, the Knights scored seven unanswered points as Kristen Korzevinski made a three, Marie Byrnes scored on a jumper, and Korzevinski buried a jumper after Kasheema Besley stole the ball from the Bears. Both teams headed into the locker room tied at 22-all.
NYIT opened the second half by nailing a three-pointer to take a 25-22 lead. They pushed the advantage to five points before Korzevinski responded with a three and MacKenzie Rowland tied the game with a pair of foul shots.
Madison Rowland gave QC its first lead, 29-27, when the scored on a put back at 13:31. The Knights never relinquished the lead from there as both sides battled back and forth over the next six minutes until QC pushed its cushion to ten points, at 53-43, when Marie Byrnes made a jumper with 2:52 remaining.
NYIT closed to within six with just over a minute left, Korzevinski made a free throw with 0:42 remaining to seal the win.
Madison Rowland had another double-double with a game-high 21 points and ten rebounds. She also swatted a pair of shots and collected five steals. MacKenzie pulled in 14 rebounds (a game-best) and finished with six points, while Korzevinski netted 14. Byrnes came off the bench to score nine points.
The Queens College women's basketball team returns to action on Saturday, November 30, when they face Molloy in an ECC contest from Rockville Centre, New York. The game time is slated for 12:00 PM.
