ORANGEBURG, N.Y. – Sophomore forward Hannah Finnerty scored a season-high 12 points for Post University Women's Basketball, but the Eagles were unable to finish off their fourth-quarter comeback bid against Dominican (N.Y.) in their 2024-25 conference opener on the road, falling by nine points, 65-56, on Tuesday evening. 

THE BASICS

Post University 56, Dominican University (N.Y.) 65

Post University (0-6, 0-1 CACC)
 
Dominican (N.Y.) (8-2, 1-0 CACC)

HOW IT HAPPENED 
Finnerty had a season-high 12 points by halftime after shooting 5-for-8 from the field while making 2-of-4 threes to lead the Eagles in scoring. Finnerty along with sophomore forward Alyssa Rossignol had the most points for Post at the half with Rossignol having seven points on 3-of-11 shooting with a free throw make. But the Lady Chargers would hold an 11-point lead at the break after manufacturing 14 turnovers leading to 15 points off turnovers.

Through the first 20 minutes, Post would never take the lead as graduate guard Tanasha Mills kicked off the scoring for Dominican (N.Y.) which led to a 9-4 run to start the affair. While Finnerty's layup got the Eagles within one point, 13-12, with 2:17 left in the first quarter, that would be the closest they got after a 9-2 run to start the second that ended in two more Mills free throws gave the Lady Chargers a 1-point advantage, 27-16. A Finnerty three to close the half brought the Eagles within 11 points, 38-27, but as a team Post closed the half having shot 11-for-34 (32.4%) overall and 2-for-7 (28.6%) from three. 

While the Lady Chargers only shot slightly better at 13-for-32 (40.6%) with two threes made, they would also drain 10-of-12 free throws compared to 3-of-4 for the Eagles. Dominican (N.Y) was led by a balanced attack that saw Mills score 10 points, eight of which came from the charity stripe, followed by nine points on 4-of-10 shooting from junior guard Cayla Howard. 

Just over midway through the third quarter, the Lady Charger lead would stretch to a game-high 18 points following an and-one opportunity for Mills who converted on 11-of-13 free throw attempts by the end of the night. Still trailing by 15 points with 5:32 remaining in regulation, that was when the Eagles would go on an 8-0 run starting with two free throws from graduate guard Erin Harris followed by six straight points from freshman guard Jasmine Day-Cox to pull within seven, 56-49, with exactly four minutes to go.

Seven points would be the closest the Eagles would come and after a layup from senior guard Jayden Burns with 2:50 left to make it a 58-51 game, Howard and Mills would strike for four combined points to bring the margin back to double digits, 62-51. Howard finished with a game-high 21 points and a double-double after snagging 14 rebounds while Mills had 20 points on the evening as the Lady Chargers withstood the comeback attempt by Post to send the Eagles to their sixth straight loss overall and first in conference play this season, 65-56.

BY THE NUMBERS   

• Hannah Finnerty led all Post University scorers with 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting with two threes made while grabbing nine rebounds, just one rebound shy of her first double-double of the year 
• Jayden Burns finished the game with a season-high 10 points for Post University, shooting 4-for-10 from the floor with one three and one free throw made 
• Two players from Dominican (N.Y.) scored 20-plus points as Cayla Howard led all scorers with a double-double effort after scoring 21 points and pulling down 14 rebounds -- Tanasha Mills finished with 20 points with 11-of-13 free throws made
• In their first six games of the season, Post University has committed 20-plus turnovers in each affair while doing so in just eight games throughout the entire 2023-24 season

WHO'S NEXT 
Post University heads home for the first time in nearly a month to take on the University of Bridgeport in a Saturday afternoon matchup this weekend at 1:00 PM in the Drubner Center. The Eagles have won five straight games against the Purple Knights since the 2021-22 season after losing the previous eight before that from the 2002-03 to 2013-14 seasons.