AMHERST, N.Y. – On Saturday afternoon, the Queens College women's basketball team returned to the East Coast Conference championship semi-final game for the first time since the 2016-17 season as the #6 seed.
The Knights matched up against #2 seed Spartans of Saint Thomas Aquinas College inside Lumsden Gymnasium in a rematch of the 2014-15 semi-final game.
Led by the ECC Rookie of the Year and Third Team All-Conference honoree
Brianna Davis (Bronx, N.Y.) game-high 17 points, and graduate student
Raven Pitt (Valley Stream, N.Y.) 13 points, the Knights would erase a 12-point deficit, but missed opportunities in the fourth quarter would see the young Knights squad conclude their season to the final score of 48-55.
Game Recap
The Spartans opened the scoring early before Pitt tallied four straight points giving Queens an early lead of 4-2 with 8:34 left in the first quarter.
The Knights were unable to replicate Wednesday's shooting as they shot 15.3% from the field but the defense would keep the Spartans to 28.5% from the field as Queens only trailed by three, 9-6 heading into the second quarter.
With Queens unable to find their rhythm, the Spartans would extend their lead to eight, 14-6 with 7:28 left until halftime before sophomore
Chelsea Reeves (Brooklyn, N.Y) stopped the drought at the 7:02 mark.
The Spartans would tally a 10-4 run as they extended their lead to 12, 24-12 with 3:26 to go until halftime.
Looking to go down fighting, Queens would end the final 3:01 of the second quarter on a 9-3 run as they held the Spartans to 0-5 from the field with two turnovers as the Knights went into halftime trailing by 6, 27-21.
STAC opened the third quarter on an 8-3 run as they extended their lead back to double digits of 11, 35-24 by the 6:50 mark.
After being held scoreless for over three minutes of play, led by their All-Conference trio of Davis, Pitt, and Reeves, the Knights would end the final 4:20 of the third quarter on an 11-5 run as they cut their deficit down to five, 40-35 heading into the final 10 minutes of play.
The Spartans opened the fourth quarter with a 3-0 run as they increased their advantage to eight, 43-35 with 9:17 to go.
But the Knights used one last burst as they looked to rally back going on an 8-0 run to tie the game at 43-43 with 4:38 left.
In the fourth quarter, Queens would hold the #2 seed to 1-10 from the field as they missed their last nine shots, but the Spartans would convert 13-18 at the charity stripe to hold on to a victory over a young and inexperienced Knights squad in the Semi-final game to the final score of 55-48.
Game Highlights
- Davis led all scorers with a game-high 17 points (6-20 FG) to go with four rebounds and four steals.
- In the final game of her collegiate career, Pitt tallied a near double-double with 13 points (5-12 FG) to go with nine rebounds, five assists, and one steal.
- With her five assists Saturday, Pitt takes sole possession of fifth place with 130 assists in a Single-Season overtaking Cally Prasinos's 129 assists (1993-94 season).
- Reeves recorded eight points (3-18 FG) to go with eight rebounds.
- Rookie Gianna Henriques (Bronx, N.Y.) tallied five points (2-4 FG) to go with a career-high 13 rebounds and three blocks on the afternoon.
- The Knights shot 30.5% going 18-59 from the field while the Spartans were held to 28.3% from the field on 17-60 shooting.
- Both teams recorded 45 rebounds, but the Spartans held an 8-3 margin on second-chance points.
- The Spartans shot 70.8% from the free line converting 17-24, while the Knights went 8-14 on 57.1% shooting.
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