The Berkeley College women's basketball team split a pair of games this past weekend, falling to the Moose of the University of Maine at Augusta by a score of 74-51, before turning around a day later and turning back the Lynx of NHTI by a score of 63-52. Both games took place in Concord, New Hampshire, on the campus of NHTI, as part of the Lynx' New Year's Classic. With the output, the Knights are now 1-12 on the 2022-2023 campaign.

 

In the Knights' loss to the Moose, Berkeley was paced by senior standout Amal Mahmoud, as she connected on nine of 20 attempts from the floor, finishing with a team-high 20 points. She also snatched a game-high 15 rebounds, while also swiping two steals. Also, it was freshman Jasmyn Maisonet connected on four trifectas, finalizing her day with 15 points.

 

The University of Maine at Augusta was led by Sydney Farrar's game-high 26 points. She nailed nine of her 15 attempts from the floor, including five-of-seven from long range, while also draining three of her four attempts from the free throw line. Kaeti Butterfield added 18 points and five rebounds, and Ariana Alcide scored 11 points and snatched five boards in 16 minutes off of the bench.

 

The Moose never trailed in this game. Leading 8-4 just 3:45 into the first quarter, the University of Maine at Augusta put together an 11-0 run to push its advantage to 15 points, 19-4, with 1:07 left in the period.

The Moose led 21-6 before Maisonet drained a triple in the closing seconds of the quarter to pull Berkeley to within 12 points after one.

 

Berkeley hoped the momentum of Maisonet's trifecta would carry into the second quarter, but the Moose started the period with six consecutive points (thanks to a triple by Farrar, a bucket by Butterfield, and a converted freebee by Mariah Dunbar) to spring to a 27-9 edge. The Moose led by as many as 19 in the quarter (31-12) before taking an 18 point advantage (36-18) into the locker room at halftime.

 

The University of Maine at Augusta dominated the third quarter, outscoring the Knights 25-11 in the period to snatch a 61-29 lead after 30 minutes of play. Berkeley College did come alive in the fourth, outscoring the Moose 22-13, thanks to the stellar play of Maisonet and Mahmoud, who scored 12 and 7 points respectively in the quarter. The impressive spurt in the final period proved to be too little, too late, as the University of Maine at Augusta advanced for a 23-point victory.

 

The Moose connected on 25 of their 49 shots from the floor, equating to a conversion rate of 51 percent. Berkeley struggled, nailing just 36.2 percent of its shots (21-58). The University of Maine at Augusta narrowly won the rebounding battle, snatching 30 boards compared to 26 for the Knights. The Moose tallied 20 dimes while Berkeley totaled nine, and Berkeley took care of the basketball for the most part, committing just 15 miscues, while the University of Maine at Augusta had 14.

 

A day later, Berkeley College's Candice DeRisi registered her first victory as Head Coach, as the Knights beat host NHTI by 11 points. Leading the way for Berkeley in its triumph was Mahmoud, as she scored a team-high 16 points (7-12 FG) while leading all players with 16 rebounds. Beulah Dixon Blake put forth a fine all-around performance, hitting seven of her nine shot attempts to finish with 14 points, seven rebounds, and six assists, and newcomer Shania Smith netted 11 points while collecting three boards.

 

For the Lynx, Janessa Lofton nailed four shots from downtown, finishing with game-highs of 20 points and six steals. She also contributed four rebounds and four assists, as well. Bess Deacon and Maggie Brown netted 10 points apiece, with Deacon snatching a team-high 11 rebounds, and Brown adding six assists and a pair of boards.

 

In what was a very tightly-contested first quarter, neither squad led by more than three points, and the teams exchanged the lead four times. After 10 minutes of action, Berkeley College held a slim 12-11 edge over NHTI.

 

The Knights built a lead as large as seven points in the second quarter (19-12) thanks to the strong play of Mahmoud, who scored six points (3-3 FG) and grabbed six rebounds in the period. As the teams entered the locker room at halftime, Berkeley held a modest 28-22 lead.

 

34 seconds into the third quarter, NHTI's Brown converted on a layup to pull her team within four points at 28-24, but the Knights dominated the quarter from there, holding the Lynx to just two field goals for the remainder of the period, and outscoring them 19-8 to take a 47-32 lead into the fourth quarter. 11 of Berkeley's 19 points in the period came courtesy of Blake and Smith, who netted six and five points, respectively.

 

NHTI put a scare into Berkeley in the fourth, going on a 10-0 run in the opening 1:27 of the period to slice the Knight's lead to five, 47-42. Cherokee Wheeler stopped the home team's momentum with a layup with 8:08 left, but the Lynx responded when Jessica Allen nailed a trifecta to make it 49-45 Knights with 7:53 left.

 

Berkeley's Desiraye Sealy converted on a layup to make it 51-45 in favor of the visitors, but NHTI's Lofton nailed a shot from downtown, pulling the home school to within three points (51-48) with 6:56 to go. The Knights' defense would be stifling over the final seven minutes though, as Berkeley allowed just one Lynx field goal the rest of the way, outscoring NHTI 12-4 for the remainder of the game to close out coach DeRisi's first win.

 

Berkeley was very efficient in its victory, hitting 43.5 percent of its attempts from the floor (27-62) while holding the lynx to a 33.3 percent conversion rate (18-54). The Knights nailed five of their six attempts from the charity stripe (83.3 percent), while NHTI was haunted by poor free throw shooting, misfiring on 10 shots from the stripe (6-16, 37.5 percent). Berkeley dominated the glass, out-rebounding the hosts 41-26, while also registering 38 points in the paint compared to 12 for the Lynx. Both schools took care of the basketball pretty well, only committing 12 turnovers apiece.

 

The Knights  will look to make it two victories in a row, as Berkeley next travels to Cranford, NJ to take on Union College on Wednesday evening. Start-time for that contest is scheduled for 7:00pm.