By: Dylan O’Loughlin
The Brockport Golden Eagles Women’s Basketball team looked to keep a five-game road win streak alive at home on Play4Kay Night hosting the Russell Sage Gators. Despite going down 34-32 at halftime due to a 23-point half from Gators’ senior guard Layla Acosta, the Golden Eagles outscored Russell Sage 39-32 in the second half led by guards Mandy Brink and Peyton Maneri to pull out the victory 71-66.
“It feels great,” Brink said. “We’re so excited for the remainder of the season and for the playoffs to come so we’re going to keep on being resilient. We’re going to keep on going and we’ll see where it takes us.”
The first quarter was a game of runs. After Brockport opened up a quick 16-9 lead, Acosta scored 12 of her game-high 35 points in the first to make it a 18-17 Golden Eagle lead after one.
In the second, it was all Acosta. The senior went on to score 11 more points in the quarter to help the Gators open up as big as a nine-point lead.
“We’re not playing together right now and someone (Acosta) on there team has all of there points” Brockport Head Coach Corinne Jones said. “We just have to do a better job on her and play as a team.”
That’s exactly what the Golden Eagles did. After a response punch from Russell Sage, it was Brink who got the Golden Eagles out of the corner to go on a run of their own. The junior guard went on to score 10 of Brockport’s 14 points in the quarter to cut the Gators’ lead to two heading into halftime.
“Shots weren’t falling for us so it needed to start on defense,” Brink said. “I was just like I’m going to go for it and be resilient…and that’s what I did.”
In the third quarter, Brockport carried its momentum and played team ball. The Golden Eagles turned defense into offense causing three turnovers all for points, led by Maneri and junior guard Brianna Carey with five points apiece. In the quarter, Brockport outscored Russell Sage 17-8 with five different Golden Eagles putting points on the board. To go along with that, Acosta was held to just four points, a field goal and two free throws.
In the fourth, it was back and forth as Russell Sage ignited a run 9-4 run to cut the lead to three with just six minutes remaining. It was Acosta and junior forward Kallie Hopkins leading the way, capitalizing on second-chance opportunities.
But, Brockport responded with a run of their own going on an 8-0 run to extend the lead back to nine, the largest of the game.
From there Brockport maintained the advantage not letting the lead get any closer than three points and when it did, the defense stepped up. The Golden Eagles continued to turn defense into offense, led by Maneri who scored six of her 15 points in the final 10 minutes.
“We all bought in at the end,” Maneri said. “We came out really slow, but our main word today was resilience. We bounce right back, we all work together especially on defense. We talked, we communicated, we got through it and here we are.
Up 69-66, the Gators had a chance with 11 seconds remaining, but the Golden Eagles defense stepped up again. Russell Sage guard Kyla Smith had a chance to tie, but missed and Brockport recovered and clinched the game with two free throws from Brink.
On the night, Brink led the way with 16 points, eight rebounds and two assists while Maneri followed with 15 points and three assists. Carey netted 11 points while Stephanie Jean-Baptiste, Claire Turner and Addy VanDewater chipped in six points apiece. Turner also hauled in a team-high nine rebounds while VanDeWater grabbed five.
For Russell Sage, Acosta dropped a career-high 35 points along with six assists and five boards while Hopkins finished with a double-double of 12 points and 13 rebounds, the junior’s eighth of the season.
With the win, Brockport improves to 12-6 on the season and 8-1 in conference play for third in the Empire 8 standings. On the other hand, Russell Sage falls to 12-7 and 7-3 in E8 play, which sits the Gators fourth in the Empire 8 .
The Golden Eagles look to ride this six-game win streak into tomorrow, Saturday Jan. 31st as Brockport hosts the Hartwick Hawks. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m.
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