The Albertus Magnus women's basketball team fell to Anna Maria College 81-64 on the road on Saturday afternoon. The contest marked the Falcons' final regular-season game of 2014-15. The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) loss drops the Falcons to 11-14 overall and 4-7 in GNAC play.
With the win, Anna Maria improves to 10-15 on the year and 5-6 in league action. Both teams will compete for the GNAC Tournament title when the postseason begins on Tuesday evening.
The Falcons will head to top-seeded Emmanuel College on Tuesday to begin their postseason run.
In today's loss, freshman Olivia Bolden (South Windsor, Conn.) led the Falcons with 19 points, while Kelsey Pendagast (Shelton, Conn.) and Kiarra Epps (Norwalk, Conn.) added 14 and 10 points, respectively.
Anna Maria had six different players register double figures, while Christina Gauvin tallied a game-high 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the floor.
The Falcons jumped out to an early 15-point lead at 24-9 midway through the opening half. The AMCATs used a 7-0 run to cut the Albertus lead to eight less than three minutes later. Another run late in the frame cut the score to within three at 28-25 before Anna Maria tied the game at 30 with 1:53 left on the clock. Anna Maria took a three-point lead but seconds later, the Falcons tied the score at 35 heading into intermission.
Anna Maria controlled play in the second half, shooting over 50% from the field, while Albertus shot 35.7% in the second after a 43.8% showing from the floor in the first half.
Anna Maria held a 42-28 advantage in points in the paint on the afternoon, while the Falcons out-rebounded the AMCATs 42-35 in the contest.
Alexa Riley (Cromwell, Conn.) added eight points off the bench for the Falcons. Junior Chelsea Sherrod (Bridgeport, Conn.) finished with six points and 11 rebounds for the Falcons, while Pendagast added 12 boards for her 11th double-double of the season.
Albertus is now 8-4 all-time against Anna Maria.
Albertus will play in the GNAC Tournament Quarterfinals on Tuesday night in its next contest. More information on GNAC Tournament can be found at AlbertusFalcons.com.
