KINGS POINT, N.Y. (Feb. 23, 2023) – The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy women's basketball team, with six players recording double-digit scoring on the night, marched triumphantly to their fourth-straight Skyline Finals with a wire-to-wire 82-56 victory over St. Joseph's-Long Island. USMMA's 23rd win overall 13th in a row each tied program records. Merchant Marine improved to 23-2, while the Golden Eagles' season ended with a 15-10 record.
Game Links
Coming into the game, you were led to believe St. Joseph's-Long Island was going to have senior
Lauren Hunter (Tinley Park, Ill.) circled on their whiteboard. In the teams' first two meetings during the regular season, Hunter combined to score 55 points and pull down 45 total rebounds. Sure enough, the Golden Eagles zoned in on Hunter, who started 1-for-6 from the field. What St. Joseph's could not zone in on was the other four Mariners starters.
Head Coach
Matt Dempsey calls the next game the only game that matters and the Mariners played like it tonight. All five Mariners starters registered double figures and combined for 69 of the team's 82 points. Sophomore
Grace Jackson (Parma, Idaho), who led all scorers with 18 points, sparked the Mariners' offense at the beginning of each half.
Jackson greeted the Golden Eagles with an induvial 5-0 run to the start the game and opened the third quarter with two buckets in the first 70 seconds. Nine of the sophomore's 18 points came within the opening 90 seconds of each half. Two early triples from sophomore
Abby Stramski (Jones, Okla.) helped Jackson set the tone for the evening.
Tag-teaming with Jackson early on was senior
Madison Demos (Downers Grove, Ill.). Coming off a season-high 17 points on Senior Day, Demos delivered once again. A 15-point and 15-rebound performance notched Demos her ninth double-double of the season. With Hunter bottled up early, Demos dropped 10 of her 15 points in the first half by shooting 5-for-10.
As the Golden Eagles shifted their attention to the Mariners' other offensive weapons, lanes opened up for Hunter. After only registering three points the first 16 minutes, Hunter hit her stride by getting to the foul line. Four free-throws and two makes from the field by Hunter quickly put her in double figures with 11. Hunter went on to finish with a double-double of her own with 14 points and 15 boards.
When it rained, it poured for the Mariners offensively. In her first career conference tournament game, freshman
Hannah Ramsden (Port Aransas, Texas) joined the double-digit party with 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting. It was an efficient evening for Ramsden, who recorded six points in the first half and five in the second.
Despite the Mariners' strong offense in the first half, it was the defense that put USMMA in the driver's seat for good in quarter number two. After the Golden Eagles cut the deficit to 30-24 with 6:26 left in the half, a timeout by Coach Dempsey settled his team down and the Mariners did what they do best. Rebound. Merchant Marine outrebounded and outscored the Golden Eagles 12-2 to end the half to take a 42-27 lead into the locker room.
With a trip to the Skyline Finals in their sights, the Mariners got a big second half from sophomore
Kaira Winston (Chesterfield, Va.). Winston scored 10 of her 12 points in half number two including a 6-for-8 night at the charity stripe. The shifty sophomore cut in and out on the St. Joseph's defense to create enormous foul trouble. USMMA took advantage of the Golden Eagles' fouls by going 25-for-31 at the line on the evening.
What put a bow on this all-around great effort for the Mariners was their man-to-man defense. St. Joseph's leading scorers Alyssa Adomaites and Lanyah Ford were held to a combined 7-for-35 from the field. Merchant Marine was not going to let Adomaites or Ford beat them and they stayed true to the game plan.
USMMA will look to climb one more mountain to reclaim their Skyline Conference title, and that mountain will be the Manhattanville Valiants. The Valiants took down Mount Saint Mary 78-55 tonight to advance to Saturday's Championship Game. Liebertz Gymnasium will be the site of the Skyline Finals at 7 p.m. USMMA and Manhattanville split the season series with the road team winning both games. Live stats and a live video feed of the Championship Game will be available with links on
the USMMA Women's Basketball Schedule Page.
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