SPARKILL, N.Y. - The D'Youville University Women's Basketball team lost their first game of the season 69-66 to American International College on day two of the St. Thomas Aquinas Challenge.
The Saints (1-1) were led by Junior
Stella Mollica (Shillington, Pa./Governor Mifflin) with 17 points and six rebounds.
Anna Jankovic (Averill Park, N.Y./Averill Park) and
Brianne Moxley (Penfield, N.Y./Penfield) followed close behind with 12 points each and
Sofie Fuglsang (Oberanven, Luxembourg/International School Michel Lucius) finished the game with 11 points.
Gameplay started even between the Saints and Yellowjackets with D'Youville holding the close lead 11-8 after a three-pointer by
Brianne Moxley. The Yellowjackets answered with two layups taking their first lead of the game at 12-11. The lead was exchanged back and forth between teams, but
Anna Jankovic made a layup to put the Saints ahead 18-17, but a free throw from the Yellowjackets would tie the game to end the first quarter.
The second quarter was scoreless for the first three-and-a-half minutes with both teams looking to break the tie.
Carla Torrubia Cano (Melilla, Spain/Maristas Cordoba) delivered the layup to score the first points of the second quarter and put the Saints up by two. The Yellowjackets came back and would outscore the Saints 11-6 from that point on to take the lead 31-26 going into halftime.
At the half,
Sofie Fuglsang led the Saints with six points while Mollica, Jankovic, and Moxley followed close behind with five. The Saints shot 50% from the free throw line and 45.5% from the three-point line while the Yellowjackets shot 66.7% from the free-throw line and only 21.4% from the three-point line.
D'Youville came out of halftime on fire quickly tying the game at 31. The Yellowjackets fought right back to regain the lead. A jumper from
Stella Mollica retied the game at 39, but the AIC offense continued jumping out 51-46 by the end of the third quarter.
As gameplay continued into the fourth, the Yellowjackets extended their lead to 55-49 with 7:30 left to play. A layup by Jankovic put the Saints at 51 and after a successful free throw,
Jaelyn Vleer-Elliott (Waterville, N.Y./Brookfield) delivered the layup to bring the Saints behind one at 55-54. A layup by
Stella Mollica then gave D'Youville the one-point lead. Mollica and Jankovic each delivered another layup to put the Saints up 60-58, but a three-pointer from the Yellowjackets brought the lead back to AIC. The Yellowjacket offense tacked on four more points. Despite a three from Fuglsang, and a layup and free throw from Vleer-Elliot, the Yellowjackets would go on to win 69-66.
The Saints finished the game shooting 68% from the free-throw line and 33.3% from the three-point line. D'Youville finished with 37 rebounds and seven steals.
Up Next for the Saints
The Saints are back on the road for another weekend game next Saturday, November 18th at Walsh University in North Canton, Ohio at 1:00 PM.
