Women’s Basketball with a Senior Day W
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Women’s basketball notched another conference win today against Hartwick 81-36. With the conclusion of Saturday’s games, Nazareth has locked in the fourth seed for playoffs and will host round one of playoffs against the five seed.
With the win, Nazareth now has an overall record of 18-6, and a conference record of 12-3, while Hartwick drops to 6-17 overall and 4-11 in the Empire 8.
The first quarter started out strong for the Golden Flyers, coming out of the gate with a 20-point quarter while only allowing Hartwick to score 10. The Golden Flyers’ 20 points came from 44.44 percent from the field on 8-18, 50 percent from the three on 2-4, and 100 percent from the line on 2-2.
The second quarter was Nazareth’s strongest, shooting 52.94 percent from the field and 50 percent from the arc, while only giving up nine points to the Hawks. With three minutes and 30 seconds left in the half, Nazareth went up by 30 at 43-13. However, the Hawks went on a run at the end of the half to make the halftime score 43-19 in favor of the Golden Flyers.
Molly Benetti had Nazareth’s first six points of the game, while also leading the team in points at the half with 13. Also scoring in the first half was Payton Littlefield with 12, Madalyn Kelly with eight, Sarina McDowellwith six, and Katie MacLachlan and Morgan Caraballo each with two.
In the third quarter, Nazareth continued to make plays on both ends of the floor, allowing the Golden Flyers to expand the lead to 37 with three minutes left in the third quarter. Heading into the final 10 minutes of play, the Golden Flyers led 60-27.
In the final quarter Nazareth shot 50 percent from the field, the arc, and the line. The Golden Flyers’ stellar defense again held the Hawks to under double digits in the fourth quarter, allowing Nazareth to take the win at a final score of 81-36.
Benetti led the team in points with 19, while also grabbing eight rebounds and swatting two blocks. MacLachlan led the team in boards with 11, while also putting up seven points and dishing out six assists. Kelly and Littlefield each finished the game with 12 points, while McDowell added 10 points, seven rebounds, and three assists. Caraballo put up nine total points for the Golden Flyers while also adding six of both rebounds and assists. Kiara Anglin grabbed nine boards for Nazareth, while teammate Tessa Schuey had six points. Brayden Schultz had two points and two rebounds, while Chianna Williamsalso grabbed two boards. Senior Madilann Johnson had four points, one rebound, and one assist on her senior day.
The Golden Flyers will be back at home on February 18th for a 5:30 p.m. Battle of the Beaks showdown against crosstown rival St. John Fisher.
Madalyn Kelly Puts on Record Breaking Show in a 75-56 Win Over Russell Sage
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Nazareth women’s basketball notched another conference win on Friday night against Russell Sage. In the victory, sophomore Madalyn Kelly set a new Nazareth and Empire 8 record record for three pointers in a game with 10, a record that was previously set at eight by Julia Brew in 2016. Kelly shot 10 of 13 from behind the arc and 11 of 15 from the field to give herself impressive percentages of 0.769 from the three and 0.733 overall. Kelly led the team with a career-high 33 points total.
With the win, Nazareth improves its record to 17-6 overall and 11-3 in the conference, while Russell Sage drops to 9-14 overall and 7-7 in the Empire 8.
In the first quarter, Kelly and the rest of the Golden Flyers came out strong on both ends of the floor. Nazareth’s stellar defense is what really helped the Flyers gain an edge over the Gators. Nazareth held Sage scoreless until about the four minute mark when the Gators scored on a layup to make the score 9-2. In the last four minutes of the quarter, the Golden Flyers did not give up another bucket, while Nazareth went on a 14-0 run off of a layup from Brayden Schultz and four back-to-back Kelly threes to put Nazareth up 23-2 heading into the second quarter.
Nazareth’s commanding lead held strong until halfway through the second quarter. With five minutes left in the half, the Golden Flyers were up 33-9, but Sage went on a 15-0 run to finish the half to bring Nazareth’s lead down to nine heading into the second half.
Scoring in the first half for the Flyers was Kelly with 15, Molly Benetti with seven, Katie MacLachlan with five, and Schultz, Kiara Anglin, and Sarina McDowell all with two.
In the third quarter, Sage continued to chip away at Nazareth’s lead, getting it down to six at the 6:18 minute mark. By the end of the quarter, the Golden Flyers got the lead back up to double-digits at 52-42.
With seven minutes and 36 seconds left to go in the final quarter, the Flyers brought the lead back up to over 20 points where it would hover for the remainder of the game. Nazareth took the win at a score of 75-56.
Kelly led the scoring efforts with 33 points. Benetti had a well-rounded game with a double-double consisting of 15 points and 10 rebounds as well as throwing down five blocks, dishing out two assists, and grabbing two steals. MacLachlan was the third Golden Flyer in double digits with 12 points. She also led the team in assists with seven and grabbed nine rebounds and two steals. Anglin also grabbed nine rebounds, as well as adding five points and assists. McDowell finished the game with four points, while Madilann Johnson, Schultz, and Tessa Schuey each had a pair of points.
The Golden Flyers will be back at home on February 15 for a 2 p.m. senior day showdown as Nazareth takes on Hartwick while honoring lone senior Johnson.