Box Score

NEW YORK, N.Y.- The Immaculata women's basketball team had a tremendous opportunity to play Division II Queens College on the anniversary of the first women's basketball game played at Madison Square Garden on Sunday morning as part of the Maggie Dixon Classic, and after a closely contested 30 minutes of the game, Queens (8-2) pulled away late for a 76-60 victory over the Mighty Macs (4-6).
 
The game was a rematch of a game played on February 22^nd, 1975 which the Mighty Macs won 65-61 in front of nearly 12,000 people in the first ever collegiate women's basketball game at The World's Most Famous Arena.

Head coach Patty Canterino said of the event, "This is a great experience for the Immaculata Mighty Macs. It was a wonderful opportunity. We feel very appreciative of it. I thought we came out and played hard for forty minutes and that was pretty much our game plan...we came out strong from the beginning and played hard until the end."
 
Senior Sara Smith (3 assists) led the Mighty Macs with 15 points, followed by sophomore Reilly Larkin with 14, and 13 from senior Adriana Sciascia (3 assists).  Senior Brittany Merkle led the squad with nine boards.
 
For the game, the Mighty Macs shot 20-for-60 (33.3%), including 5-for-15 from the three point line and 15-for-19 from the free throw line (78.9%).
 
The Mighty Macs got off to a slow start as Queens raced out to a 15-4 lead in the game's opening seven minutes.  The Knights would swell their lead to thirteen points at 19-6, but the Mighty Macs would then cut into it.
 
Over the next three minutes, IU went on a 8-0 spurt to make it 19-14 behind buckets from Sciascia, Smith, and a couple free throws from Larkin.
 
Queens would respond with a 6-0 run to put their lead at 25-14 with 4:30 remaining, but IU would then hold the Knights scoreless for the rest of the half as they went on a 10-0 run to make it 25-24 at the break.
 
Senior Mackie Fitzgerald (7 points) and Smith hit back-to-back buckets before Sciascia knocked down a three ball, to give her a team-high nine points in the first half.  Smith would close out the half with a free throw and fast break layup to send IU to the locker room down just one.
 
In the second half, IU would take their first and only lead of the game nine seconds into the second half on another jumper from Sciascia to make it 26-25 IU.
 
Queens would then score 10 of the next 12 points over the next two minutes to take a 35-28 advantage before an IU timeout.
 
The teams traded buckets after the timeout, before Sciascia and Smith each hit back-to-back jumpers to again cut the deficit to three points at 37-34.  IU would keep it at a three point game at 44-41 with 13 minutes to go after a layup by Smith, but they were unable to get closer.
 
Queens would race out to a double digit advantage with 15 of the next 20 points to grab a 59-46 advantage with 8:42 remaining.  The Mighty Macs were unable to get closer than 12 the rest of the way as Queens closed out the 76-60 victory.  Madison Rowland led the Knights with 28 points and 11 rebounds.
 
The Mighty Macs had a great experience at MSG and then had the opportunity to honor Maggie Dixon with a ceremony after the game along with Queens, St. John's, and the No. 2 University of Connecticut prior to St. John's and Connecticut playing in the second half of the doubleheader.

Smith reflected on the chance to play at Madison Square Garden, "It meant a lot. Growing up, a lot of kids dreamed about this and we luckily were able to do it.  It was kind of surreal.  When you step on the court and just look around, you just have to take it all in.  Again, we're just really grateful for this and for the former Mighty Macs and players of Queens College for giving us this opportunity…The whole time I was just taking it in because this is just awesome."
 
Immaculata will play their final non-conference regular season on Monday evening at Penn State-Harrisburg at 6 p.m.