Niagara University, NY — Le Moyne women's basketball (18-15, 14-2 NEC) came up short at Niagara (21-13, 15-5 MAAC) in the first round of the WNIT by a score of 91-86 on Friday night at the Gallagher Center.
"Unbelievable game to coach," said Le Moyne head coach Mary Grimes, the NEC Brenda Reilly Coach of the Year. "(Niagara head coach) Jada Pierce is one of my good friends and we knew they were going to throw everything at us, but we threw everything at them. I am so proud of my team. They fought. They turned it over, we turned them over. It was a great basketball game for women's basketball."
Graduate guard Sydney Lusher recorded a career-best 22 points with a career-high nine made field goals and pulled down a season-high seven rebounds in addition to two blocks and four steals, while sophomore guard Sierra Linnin tied career highs with 22 points and six made threes.
Fifth-year guard Lytoya Baker tallied her 14th double-double of the season with 15 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in 36 minutes played.
Graduate guard Angel Parker (23 points), junior guard Aaliyah Parker (19), graduate guard Destiny Strother (17) and sophomore forward Amelia Strong (17) each scored in double figures for Niagara, which appeared in the WNIT for the second consecutive season.
Niagara entered the game leading all NCAA Division I teams in turnovers forced per game with 27.7. The Purple Eagles forced Le Moyne into a season-worst 26 turnovers on Friday and scored 29 points off of those miscues.
Niagara's full court pressure forced a handful of early turnovers for the Dolphins and allowed the Purple Eagles to jump out to a 12-0 lead. Lusher scored Le Moyne's first basket of the day with 7:34 left in the opening quarter, and Linnin knocked down a three pointer during the next Le Moyne possession to make it 14-5.
Following a layup from Strong with just under three minutes left in the first, Niagara held a 20-11 lead, but Le Moyne scored the next eight points with a fast break layup from Goode, back-to-back baskets from Lusher and two free throws from Florvil making it a one-point game.
Le Moyne took its first lead of the game with 9:08 left in the second quarter when Linnin made a backdoor cut at the top of the key, received a pass from Baker and converted a floater in the lane. Following a drive and finish from Baker, Linnin knocked down a three from the right wing to put the Dolphins ahead, 28-22.
An old-fashioned three-point play from Aaliyah Parker with 2:07 left in the in the first half cut Le Moyne's lead to one, then a three-point play from Angel Parker one minute later put the Purple Eagles back in front, 34-32.
The Purple Eagles remained in front for much of the third quarter.
Two free throws from Glover with 4:55 left in the third gave Niagara a 51-44 lead, but Linnin knocked down back-to-back threes during Le Moyne's next two possessions to cut the deficit to one. The sharp-shooter delivered one more triple in the third quarter to tie up the game at 55-all with 1:46 to go in the stanza.
The Dolphins went ahead by three after Baker cut through Niagara's press and scored an uncontested layup at the rim, but Strong made two free throws with seven seconds remaining to make it 59-58 in favor of Le Moyne going into the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter was a slugfest between the two Upstate foes that featured five lead changes and five ties.
With Niagara leading 76-71, the Purple Eagles scored the next five points with the help of a three pointer from Strother to take an 81-73 lead with under two minutes remaining. Remaining within arms' reach and pulling within a single possession on a pair of Baker free throws with 31 seconds left, the Dolphins were forced to foul, allowing Angel Parker to tack on two more Niagara points from the free throw line.
Linnin's final three-pointer of the game with 19 seconds remaining made it an 86-84 Niagara advantage, but Angel Parker closed out the win with a 4-for-4 effort from the line down the final stretch.
Baker finished the season with 203 defensive rebounds, which is one shy of her single-season program record 204 defensive rebounds that she tallied during the 2022-23 season. She concludes her Le Moyne career ranked 12th all-time in points (1,119), fourth in rebounds (812), 12th in assists (249), 14th in blocks (62), ninth in steals (165) and sixth in minutes played (3,177). She also accumulated 32 double-doubles during her four seasons on the Heights.
"I've been able to coach some great players and (Lytoya is) right up there," said Grimes after the game. "She's got a great attitude, she's got a great love for the game, and it shows. When you recruit kids like that, then they can grow and they can flourish and they can become great, and Lytoya became one of the greats here at Le Moyne."
Le Moynecompiled a 14-2 conference record in the program's first season as a Division I member of the NEC. The .875 conference winning percentage is the best mark in program history.
The Dolphins closed the regular season on a seven-game win streak, and had the most dominant defense among all NEC teams. After earning the No. 2 seed in the NEC Tournament, the Dolphins advanced to the title game, marking the program's third-ever appearance in a conference championship game, and the first since 2018-19.