GARDEN CITY, N.Y. – Southern Connecticut women's basketball defeated NE10 opponent, Adelphi University, 66-57 in a hard-fought game on Wednesday night. Southern improved to an overall record of 10-8 and an NE10 record of 7-5, while Adelphi dropped to an overall record of 4-14 and an NE10 record of 2-10.
Makenzie Helms led the team with a career-high of 26 points, while shooting a team-best 7-for-11 from the floor. In addition, she made a team-best of 12 free-throws, recorded four assists, grabbed three rebounds and had a steal against the Panthers.
Rheyna Steinauer recorded the first double-double of her career with a team-best of 12 rebounds and had 11 points. Steinauer made three-out of four-free throws, had two blocks, led the team with two steals and made two three-pointers.
Hope Fox had nine points, a rebound and a steal against Adelphi.
Katie Williamson had eight points, four rebounds and a steal.
Renza Milner had six points, had six rebounds and a team-best of four blocks.
Jillian Martin led the team with five assists and had four points for the night.
Ashley Evans had three rebounds and two points against the Panthers.
Adelphi had a strong start in the first quarter, as they took an early 12-4 lead.
Katie Williamson scored the Owls' first four points of the game. Both teams went back and forth for the remainder of the quarter, with big defensive stops on both ends of the court. The Owls cut the Panthers' lead to two before Adelphi hit a layup with seconds left in the quarter to extend their lead back to four, with a 17-13 advantage over Southern.
In the second quarter,
Makenzie Helms made a floating jumper, to get the Owls' scoring run started. Halfway through,
Rheyna Steinauer tied the game at 19-19, then
Jillian Martin allowed Southern to get the lead back with a 20-19 lead with six minutes left. However, Adelphi continued to come back and stay within distance of the Owls' lead. Going into half, the Panthers had a 28-25 lead as
Makenzie Helms scored 11 points in the first half alone.
In the third and fourth quarter, the lead between Adelphi and Southern would go back and forth yet again. In addition, the lead was at most, four points or less. The battle would continue until less than two minutes remained left in the game when
Makenzie Helms got fouled and ended the night with a new career-high of 26 points. This put Southern up by nine points over the Panthers, to get their second-straight victory.
The Owls return to action on Saturday, Jan. 27 at 1:30 p.m. against Assumption University in an NE10 matchup in the James Moore Field House.
