Firebirds Fight Off Molloy for Season’s 1st Conference Win, 63-59

ROCKVILLE CENTRE, NY – The University of the District of Columbia women's basketball team earned a 63-59 victory on the road at Molloy College for its first East Coast Conference win of the season on Wednesday night at Quealy Gymnasium.

Trailing 34-30 just past the seven-minute mark in the 3^rd quarter, the Firebirds (3-17, 1-9 ECC) closed out the period by out-scoring the Lions, 22-8. Ending that 3^rd quarter on an 8-0 run, UDC took a 52-42 lead into the final period which it never relinquished. The win marks first year head coach John Nakpodia's first career ECC win.

Molloy (8-12, 3-7 ECC) out-scored UDC, 17-11 in the 4^th quarter to claw its way back within three in the final seconds of regulation, but a 1-of-2 trip at the line by UDC's sophomore guard Tyra Coombs gave the Firebirds a two-possession lead and effectively put the game away. The Lions have now dropped three straight games.

Junior transfer guard Mia-Alexis Lloyd tied for the scoring game-high as she led UDC with 18 points on 6-of-10 FG shooting (4-of-6 from long range). Fellow guards Natasha Roy and Daeja Quick added 13 and 10 points, respectively.

Coombs and freshman forward Danielle Harrington also played pivotal roles in helping UDC avenge a four-point loss (79-75) to the Lions in our nation's capital when these two teams last met on December 2^nd. Coombs pitched in nine points, seven rebounds and three assists, and Harrington registered nine points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals.

The Lions were led by a gallant effort from six-foot tall guard Gabriella Aspuru, who registered 17 points, a game-high 13 rebounds, four steals, three assists and one blocked shot. Her backcourt mate Melody Prichard added 18 points, and point guard Ihnacinse Grady handed out a game-high seven assists.

UDC took a little over three minutes to get on the scoreboard as it fell behind 5-0 to start the game, but heated up quickly with a 9-2 burst to go up 9-7 at the mid-way point of the first quarter. Harrington kicked things off with the Firebirds' first four points, and then Lloyd scored the next five to give the visitors their first lead. Later, following a three-pointer by MC's Kathryn Gibson at the 4:30 mark, UDC went on a 6-0 charge aided by four points from Roy, and pulled ahead by five, 15-10. The Firebirds would take a 15-13 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Nakpodia's squad, eager to earn its first victory since November, opened the 2^nd quarter on an 8-2 march, beginning with a Lloyd layup and ending with a Lloyd three-pointer at the 6:47 mark to put the Firebirds up, 23-15. Still leading 26-19 after a Roy three-pointer at 4:40, UDC allowed the Lions to end the half on an 8-0 run as Molloy took a 27-26 lead into halftime.

When play resumed, the Lions out-scored UDC 7-4 over the first three minutes of the 3^rd quarter to extend their lead to four, 34-30. At that point, however, Lloyd helped lead UDC on its transformative, 22-8 surge over the final seven minutes. She scored eight points - including two three-pointers - during that stretch, and Quick added the final five points of the period to boost UDC's lead to double-digits.

In the 4^th quarter, Quick knocked down a three-pointer at the 7:35 mark to give UDC its largest lead of the night, 59-46. At that point though, Prichard's layup kicked off a 13-3 march by the Lions culminating in a layup by Abigail Duvivier to bring Molloy within three, 62-59, but with only seven seconds remaining in regulation. Coombs iced the game with a 1-of-2 trip at the line, and Molloy's final possession of the game resulted in a missed three-pointer by Gibson. The Lions' leading scorer in their victory at UDC back in December with 20 points, Gibson was held in check to just seven points on 3-of-9 FG shooting and 1-of-7 from behind-the-arc.

UDC out-shot their hosts, 49-percent (24-of-49) to 35-percent (20-of-58) from the field and a scintillating 60-percent (9-of-15) from three-point range compared to 22-percent (4-of-18) by Molloy.

Next up, the Firebirds seek their first back-to-back wins of the season as they host Queens College on Saturday, January 27^th at 1 p.m.