Yeshiva 68, Farmingdale State 64
NEW YORK | Despite pulling to within a one-point game with less than two minutes left, the Farmingdale State College women's basketball team fell in its last game of the 2023 calendar year Tuesday night, as the Rams dropped a 68-64, Skyline Conference decision to host Yeshiva University.
FSC (4-6, 2-3 Skyline) received a career-high-tying 37 points from senior forward
Layla Mendoza (Westhampton Beach, N.Y.), which is tied for the seventh most on the school's all-time leaderboard. The last time Mendoza scored 37 was also against the Maccabees (6-8, 5-6), as she turned the trick against YU on Dec. 5, 2021.
Farmingdale State took its only lead of the evening with 5:09 left in the first period, when junior
Gemma Pohalski (Huntington, N.Y.) put home a layup to give the visitors an 8-7 lead. Yeshiva took the lead for good on a 3-pointer more than a minute later, and held a 14-13 lead after 10 minutes of play.
In the second quarter, YU extended its lead to 27-19 on a long-distance effort with 3:05 to go before the break. Mendoza was true on a pair of field goals in the Rams' next two trips down the floor, before a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer restored the Macs' eight-point lead, at 31-23.
The hosts extended their advantage to 55-44 after the third frame, and led by as much as a 62-47 margin with 7:28 left in the fourth quarter. From there, FSC on a 16-1 spurt, with Mendoza's put-back layup cutting the Yeshiva lead to 64-63 with 1:41 showing on the clock. The Rams' defense got stops in Yeshiva's next two trips down the court, before FSC's pair of field-goal attempts to take the lead rimmed out with 24 ticks remaining. After the Maccabees extended their lead to three with a pair at the free-throw line with 21 seconds left, Mendoza pulled one point back at the charity stripe after collecting an offensive rebound. YU then pushed the game to a two-possession game with free throws at the 4-second mark, putting the game out of reach and accounting for the final score.
Mendoza was 16-of-29 (.552) from the field on the night, and set a career-high with 15 rebounds (nine offensive). Her 16 field goals made are tied for the third most in school history, and are the most by a Rams player in more than four years.
Freshman forward and reigning Skyline Conference Rookie of the Week,
Taneece Wooden (Freeport, N.Y.) added a 13-point,11-rebound double-double (her fourth-straight) for FSC, which held a 63-37 rebounding margin. Pohalski filled the stat sheet with seven points, a career-best 13 caroms, five steals and four assists, with junior guards
Erin Conte (Melville, N.Y.) and
Isabella Greenwald (W. Islip, N.Y.) checking in with five assists and nine boards, respectively.
Head coach
Mark Dellecave's side will return to Skyline Conference play in the new year, when the Rams travel to Old Westbury on Thursday, Jan. 4, for a 6 p.m. tip.
