Women's Basketball Advances To ECC Semifinals With 66-52 Win Over Molloy
Senior Kelly Keil's Double-Double Help Third Seeded Purple Knights Move On TO Face Number Two Seed Dowling On Saturday
Bridgeport, Conn.-The University of Bridgeport women's basketball team raced out to a 15-0 lead to begin the game and never looked back, as the Purple Knights posted a 66-52 home win over the Molloy College Lions to advance to semifinals of the 2011 East Coast Conference Championship Tournament. Number three seed Bridgeport will now face number two seed Dowling College in the ECC semifinals at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 5th. Both the semifinals and finals of the 2011 East Coast Conference Women's and Men's Basketball Championship Tournament will be played in Bridgeport's Hubbell Gym. Bridgeport captured the season series with Dowling this season, 2-1, as UB won both games at Dowling and dropped the lone meeting in Connecticut.
Wednesday's quarterfinal victory lifts the Purple Knights' season record to 16-13. Molloy ends its 2010-11 season with an 8-21 overall record.
Bridgeport shot the ball extremely well all night connecting on 57.1 percent of its shots (15 of 28) in the first half, as UB raced out to a 34-17 halftime advantage, and 53.7 percent of its shots for the game (29 of 54).
UB senior center Kelly Keil (Sparta, N.J.) led all players in the game as she recorded a double-double with 25 points and 12 rebounds. Keil also blocked five shots on the night.
Junior guard Edna Marant (Philadelphia, Pa.) joined Keil in double figures for the Purple Knights scoring 13 points. Marant also dished six assists for the victorious Purple Knights.
Bridgeport's Elsebeth Birman (So., Silver Spring, Md.) with nine points and Julia Colley (Harlow, England) with eight points were just shy of double-digit scoring.
Sophomores Christina Marra (17 points) and Ashley Addison (15 points) led Molloy in scoring.
Saturday's other ECC women's semifinal will pit the number one seed, St. Thomas Aquinas, versus the number four seed, C.W. Post, at 12 noon. Saturday winners will meet on Sunday at 12 noon for the 2011 East Coast Conference Women's Basketball Championship and an automatic bid to this year's NCAA Division II Championship Tournament.