By Dylan Butler
The Philadelphia University women's basketball team made them and Queens College didn't in the Lady Knights' 68-51 New York Collegiate Athletic Conference loss.
“Foul shots and layups, that's what's been our problem,” said Queens senior forward Jill Kraft. “If we connect we're still in the game. That's our problem.”
Philadelphia went 16-for-19 from the free throw line for a blistering 84.2 percent, while Queens was just 8-for-14 (57 percent). The Lady Rams were 47.2 percent from the field, while the Lady Knights shot just 39.6 from the floor.
“There's been a lot of open shots, you can't hide that,” said Queens College head coach Jerry Ingenito. “I don't think we're going up strong enough. And foul shooting, what can I do? We work on that everyday.”
A week ago, things were so optimistic for Queens. After battling Adelphi tooth and nail, the Lady Knights were one made Theresa Dollard layup away from beating the Panthers and garnering a share of first place in the NYCAC. But since the 53-52 loss last Wednesday, Queens (5-8, 4-4) has dropped two straight, including a 61-49 loss to Dowling Saturday.
“The Adelphi game took so much out of us,” Ingenito said. “Against Dowling, we were flat, they wanted it more. That was disappointing because we warned about it and still didn't get the effort.”
The Lady Knights opened up a 15-13 lead on an April Gross turnaround jumper in the lane with 9:16 left in the first half. But Philadelphia (8-7, 7-1) took over from there, outscoring Queens 15-8 to close out the first half with a 31-21 lead.
Philadelphia broke the game wide open early in the second half on another run, this time a 16-2 one capped by Danielle Crea's foul line jumper to extend their lead to 47-25 seven minutes into the second half.
Dollard led Queens with 17 points. The junior forward from Elmhurst was also tied with her younger sister Erin with a team-leading five rebounds. Kraft, a Maspeth native, added 10 points and two steals. Melissa Kelly led a balanced scoring attack for the Lady Rams with 13 points.
After taking on NYCAC newcomer St. Thomas Aquinas in a game scheduled for Wednesday, the Lady Knights head to Suffolk County for a rematch with Dowling College in Oakdale Saturday at 1 p.m.
Dowling 61, Queens 49. Theresa Dollard scored 14 points and Kraft added 13 points and seven rebounds for the Lady Knights, who were outscored again from the free throw line, 27-14.
