Box Score
BUFFALO, N.Y. - The D'Youville women's basketball team returned the court for the second day of the 2021 Betty Abgott Invitational at Buffalo State. The Saints held off Buffalo State, 69-62, after leading by ten points at the end of the first quarter but trailing at halftime by three. The season's third win moves the Saints to 3-0 on the season for the first time since the 2014-15 campaign.
The Saints got off to a hot start scoring the game's first seven points on three buckets in the first 60 seconds of the game. The spurt began on a three-ball from sophomore guard Sara Pfeiffer. Freshman guard Anna Jankovic followed up, scoring the first of her two field goals in the opening quarter on a layup. Sophomore Haley Kirisits scored D'Youville's third bucket on a driving layup off an assist from freshman point guard Stella Mollica.
The Saints finished the first quarter ahead 16-6 after converting on four three-pointers, two from Pfeiffer and one apiece from Jankovic and Mollica.
The Bengals (3-2 overall) clawed back into the game in the second quarter, scoring 27 points and shooting a 46.7 percent clip in the final 10 minutes of the first half to retake a 33-30 halftime lead.
D'Youville countered in the third quarter to reclaim their advantage. The Saints outscored the Bengals, 22-15, and used a floater from Pfeiffer and layup from Mollica to take a four-point lead at 52-48 into the final quarter of play.
The final two buckets ignited a 12-0 run that spilled over into the beginning of the fourth quarter to balloon D'Youville's lead to 12 points at 60-48, their largest of the game. The Bengals responded with an 11-1 run of their own to cut the Saints' advantage back down to two points at 61-59 with 1:26 remaining. Jankovic pushed the lead back to five on D'Youville's next possession as the Averill, N.Y. native converted the old-fashioned three-point play after being fouled on her made layup. Five free throws in the final 20 seconds of the game finally put the Bengals away and secured the Saints' third victory.
Jankovic scored a team-high 20 points (7-15 FG) … Pfeiffer and Mollica each added 16 points … Riedel led the Saints on the glass with 14 rebounds as Jankovic picked up a double-double with 13 rebounds … Riedel also had a team-high four blocks … The Bengals edged D'Youville 55-52 in rebounds.
The Saints will open their home schedule on Tuesday, Nov. 23 when they host Bryant & Stratton-Buffalo. Tip-off from the College Center Gym is set for 6 p.m.
The Saints beat the Bobcats, 71-60, on Friday, Nov. 19 in the first game of the Betty Abgott Invitational.
Tuesday's game can be seen on the ECC Network and fans can follow the action on Live Stats. Make sure to follow the Saints on Instagram (@dy_wbb) and Twitter (@DY_WBB).
