By Dylan Butler
Erin White was cold, and it had nothing to do with the temperature at Southampton College.
The freshman from Flushing (say that five times fast) struggled to find her shot in the first half and the Queens College women’s basketball team trailed 33-24 at halftime.
After being challenged by Lady Knights coach Denis Conroy, White, twice named New York Collegiate Athletic Conference Rookie of the Week, scored all 13 of her points in the second half but it wasn’t enough as Southampton held on for a 64-59 win last Thursday.
“I didn’t get a lot of open shots in the first half and it was hard to get started,” said White, a 5-foot-6 guard out of St. Francis Prep. “[Conroy] told me not to hesitate, to keep shooting and eventually they’ll go in.”
For Queens (7-10, 6-8), the loss was yet another in what seems like a season of close calls. The Lady Knights, who start a pair of freshmen in the backcourt, have lost four games by 6 points or less.
“I don’t think we’re far off at all,” White said. “We’re capable of beating any team we play. Hopefully, the teams we lost to in the first half of the season — we’ll get wins when we face them again.”
That wasn’t the case against Southampton (9-6, 8-4), which was led by the NYCAC’s top scorer, Dani Thomas (20 points, 8 assists and 3 steals), and Kerri Rueb, who added 19 points.
“We’re on the verge of something special,” said Conroy, whose team fell to Southampton, 76-74 on Dec. 3. “We just need to be a little more consistent, we need that extra half an inch.”
Against the Colonials, who had a distinct height advantage, White scored 6 points during a 12-2 run at the start of the second half to put Queens ahead, 36-35.
The Lady Knights shot 51.7 percent (15-for-29) in the second half, a vast improvement from 21.4 percent (6-for-28) in the first half.
“We came out flat in the second half and we remained flat for quite a while,” said Southampton coach Patrick McGunnigle. “But we stayed with it and hung in.”
Midway through the second half the Lady Knights went though a scoring slump and Southampton capitalized, taking a 56-48 lead on Kiley Lapointe’s three-pointer from the right wing with 4:10 remaining.
Queens got within four with 44 seconds left, but Erin Dollard missed an open three-pointer from the top of the key. After Katie Kenny buried both subsequent free throws, White nailed her lone trifecta to cut the Colonials’ lead to 60-57 with 32.7 seconds remaining.
But after Kenny missed the second of a one-and-one, the rebound bounced out off of Shonda Holder and Rueb scored an easy layup off the inbound to give Southampton a 63-57 lead with 28 seconds remaining.
That ball was one of the few that got away from Holder, who single-handedly kept Queens in the game with 14 points and 8 rebounds in the first half alone. The junior forward finished with a game-high 23 points and 11 rebounds.
“The fact we were in a position to win the game is a positive,” Conroy said. “We’re getting better every week, but we need to win a game like this on the road.”
Molloy College 67, Queens College 56. The backcourt of former Mary Louis standout Donna Lohery and St. Francis Prep alum Liz Fryer combined to outscore the Lady Knights freshman backcourt of White and Patti Cronin, 41-10 Saturday at Fitzgerald Gymnasium.
Lohery, a freshman point guard from Glendale, scored a game-high 28 points, including 16-for-16 from the foul line, and had 3 assists and 3 steals in 40 minutes, while Fryer netted 13 points and had 5 assists and 5 steals.
Holder again led Queens with 23 points and 16 rebounds and Dollard added 10 points for the Lady Knights, who host the University of New Haven Thursday at 5 p.m.
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by email at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 1-718-229-0300, Ext. 143.
