Women’s Hoops’ Rally Comes Up Short To Raiders

PAXTON, MA: Returning to the court for the first time in more than a month, the Anna Maria College women's basketball team lost 75-64 to visiting Rivier University on Saturday afternoon in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action at the Fuller Center in Paxton.

THE BASICS:

• Date: Saturday, January 15, 2022
• Score: Rivier 75, Anna Maria 64
• Records: Raiders of Rivier 6-6, 2-3 GNAC | AMCATS of Anna Maria 2-8, 1-3 GNAC
  

THE GAME WAS DECIDED WHEN:

• The Raiders used a 17-3 run early on to take a 21-7 lead off the opening basket of the second quarter, that coming from a layup shot by sophomore guard Lyric Grumblatt (Manchester, NH). The AMCATS, shaking off the rust of a prolonged absence from in-game competition, played hard in the second half. Down by as much as 19 at one point, Anna Maria rallied in the fourth quarter, using a 16-4 run to pull within seven off a three-pointer from senior guard Franchesca Hammond (Worcester, MA) with 3:18 to go in the game. But Grumblatt blocked a shot with 2:03 left, securing the rebound and then taking it coast-to-coast for a layup to put the Raiders back up by double-digits.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Grumblatt, the GNAC's leading scorer in just her rookie season, would lead all scorers with a career-high 41 points off 12-of-22 shooting, all while pulling down 15 rebounds and contributing three blocks in a dominating performance.
• Anna Maria – coming off a career-best 26-point scoring performance in her previous game – set a new personal scoring mark again as the force that sparked the AMCATS, finishing with a team-high 32 points, shooting five-of-ten from behind the arc and collecting six rebounds.
• Anna Maria freshman forward Marinique Reddin (Tampa, FL) would recover from a slow start, scoring 15 points while pulling down a team-high nine boards for the AMCATS, and tallying a career-high five steals.
• Rivier freshman forward Alexa Dufries (Leicester, MA) finished with 13 points, while sophomore guard Anna Stenger (Weare, NH) added 12 points and nine rebounds.
• Anna Maria senior guard Ashley Rufo (Pittsfield, MA) had a solid performance in her second game of the season, with five points, six rebounds, three steals and three blocks before fouling out.
• The Raiders enjoyed a 34.8-29.5 edge in field-goal shooting percentage and a 54-48 advantage in rebounding.

UP NEXT:

Anna Maria will be back on the court on Tuesday when they travel to Saint Joseph's College of Maine for a 5:30 p.m. game.

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