ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. – Senior guard Nicole Nicholson (Staten Island, N.Y.) set a Concordia College New York women's basketball program record for steals in a game on Tuesday evening with seven swipes, propelling the Clippers to the second-most teams steals in the record book in a 57-39 setback at Molloy College.
NOTES
• Concordia falls to 1-6.
• Molloy improves to 4-2.
• The Clippers' 17 steals are the most since Concordia tallied 19 against Nyack College during the 2011-12 season.
• Nicholson's program record for steals in a game propelled the senior to sixth for career steals with 146.
• Junior forward Shanice Grave (Brooklyn, N.Y.) recorded a personal-best five steals, tied for the ninth-most in a game in program history
STANDOUT PERFORMERS
• Sophomore guard Sara Hopkins (Mountain Top, Pa.) scored a team-high 15 points with six rebounds and three steals.
• Nicholson added an assist and block to her program-record steals total.
• Freshman forward Jaayden Lafontant (Thiells, N.Y.) pulled down a personal-best nine rebounds.
• For Molloy, Gabriella Aspuru scored 17 points with 11 rebounds while Kadijah Disckson dished out four assists.
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Graves scored the opening basket of the contest, with Molloy answering behind three-straight baskets to take a 6-2 lead with 4:44 remaining in the first quarter. Nicholson connected on a free throw to end the Molloy's run, with freshman guard Christina Brown (Ardmore, Pa.) adding two more points from the free throw line after a three pointer from the host made it 9-5 with 1:50 left in the frame. Molloy added a three-point play to its total in the final minute of the quarter, creating a 12-5 score.
• Molloy kicked off the second quarter with three-consecutive free throws before a Brown layup made it 15-7 with 7:39 remaining in the half. The host responded to Brown's layup with one of their own, sparking a 10-2 run to end that frame and create a 25-9 halftime score.
• The Lions scored the initial eight points of the second half, and 15 of the opening 17, to hold a 40-11 advantage with 3:31 remaining in the third quarter. Hopkins connected on back-to-back baskets to end the stretch, with the Clippers ending the quarter on a 10-4 run to go into the final stanza trailing 44-21.
• Following a Molloy layup to start the fourth quarter, freshman guard Toni Kinard (Deer Park, N.Y.) and Hopkins combined for four-straight points to make it 46-25 with 8:09 remaining. Hopkins scored eight-straight points for Concordia, with Molloy scoring one jumper during the run, to make it 48-31 with 4:16 left in the game. Nicholson capped off the Clippers' run fueled by Hopkins with a free throw, with neither side scoring consecutive baskets for the duration of the game.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• The Clippers converted on 11-60 shots, going 2-20 from three-point territory and 15-21 from the free throw line.
• Molloy finished 17-52 from the field, 3-18 from distance and 20-29 from the free throw line.
• Concordia recorded two assists while Molloy had 10.
• Molloy held a 46-44 advantage in rebounds.
• Concordia committed 25 turnovers, resulting in 18 points for Molloy. The host had 28 turnovers, leading to 17 points.
• Concordia recorded 17 steals with two blocks while the Lions had nine steals with eight blocks.
• Concordia's bench scored 17 points while Molloy got 10 from its bench.
UP NEXT
The women's basketball team hosts Bloomfield College in the Clippers' Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) opener on Tuesday, Dec. 3 with tip-off set for 5 p.m.
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