Mahwah, NJ: The Lady Roadrunners improved to 2-0 tonight at the Bradley Center when they defeated the Cougars of Medgar Evers College, 74-44, in the opening round of the 2010 Roadrunner Basketball Tip-Off Tournament. Sophomore Alexa Ryan drained 22 points, tying her all-time collegiate game high, sinking five three-point goals. With the loss, the Cougars fall to 0-2 overall. In game two, SUNY Old Westbury defeated Penn-State Abington, 84-54 earning their first victory of the season.

On the night, Ryan led the Roadrunners with 22 points and Danielle Beam pulled down a team high 15 rebounds while Samantha Maggio dished out six assists and Faith Flannery dished out four. The team combined hitting 29-68 (43%). Medgar Evers was led by Jaide Lewis who finished the night with a team leading 17 points and Chantal Biscette recorded a double-double consisting of 12 points and 13 boards. The Cougars shot 16-49 (33%) from the field.

Ryan helped lead the Roadrunners to a 7-0 run to start the game when she drained two three-point shots forcing a Medgar Evers time out. Resuming play, the Cougars traveled and the Roadrunners went the length of the court putting away two more points for a 9-0 lead, before a Ramapo foul put Nicole McClain on the line. McClain hit the first of the two-shot foul putting Medgar on the board with 16:20 to play in the half. The Cougars capitalized on three more free throws before McClain hit the team's first field goal of the night with 14:22 on the clock. The Cougars put away five field goals in the first 20 minutes of play while Ramapo sunk 16, heading into the locker room with a 43-16 lead.

Ryan finished the half with 17 points shooting 5-9 from the field including a perfect 4-4 from the three-point arc while Beam added seven points and ten rebounds. The Roadrunners shot 47% over Medgar's 25%. McClain led the Cougars with seven points and Jaide Lewis netted six of her own.

At the start of the second half, Medgar Evers strung together an 8-4 run to come within 21, before Ramapo's Flannery hit a jump shot sparking a 7-0 run to put the Roadrunners up 54-26 with 13:34 to play. With 4:14 to go, Maggio hit a free throw to give Ramapo a 30-point, 69-39 lead, and in the final minutes of play Ramapo held their lead to earn the 30-point, 74-44 victory.


The Roadrunners sunk 13 field goals on 34 attempts while Medgar Evers went 11-29, both teams shooting 38%. Flannery led the Roadrunners with eight points and Alayna Donadio contributed seven of her own while Lewis led all Cougars with 11 second half points.

In the second match-up of the night, Penn-State Abington jumped out to an 11-3 lead before SUNY Old Westbury's Shannon Gilly sparked a 10-1 run for the Panthers to take a 13-12 lead with 12:15 to play in the half. Over the next eight minutes, the Panthers held the Nittany Lions to only five points, sinking 21 of their own to earn a 34-17 lead and forcing a Penn-State Abington time out with 4:33 on the clock. The Panthers worked themselves to their biggest lead of the half, 23, with just over a minute to go in the half when Abigail Williams hit a three-pointer to go up, 42-19. Heading into the locker room, Old Westbury had a 44-27 lead. Old Westbury went 19-39 (49%) in the half behind 16 points from Deslyn Applewhaite while Penn-State's Trish Watson netted 16 points shooting 5-8 and 2-2 from the three-point arc.

Shannon Gilly gave the Panthers a 30-point, 70-40, lead when she sunk the first of a two-shot foul with 8:07 left in the game. The Panthers spent the remainder of the game spreading the gap, earning their biggest lead with just under four minutes left when Williams hit a jump shot to go up 80-43. The Panthers held out until the final buzzer taking the game, 84-54. Applewhaite finished the night with 23 points and Kim Weathers added 14 shooting 6-12. The team combined shooting 32-71 (45%) while Penn-State Abington went 17-58 (29%). Trish Watson sunk 32 points for the Nittany Lions.

Ramapo returns to action tomorrow at 3pm when they face off with SUNY Old Westbury for the Tip-Off Tournament Championship crown. Penn-State Abington will take on Medgar Evers in the consolation match-up at 1pm.