Box Score
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BROOKLYN, N.Y.  – The LIU Brooklyn women's basketball team dropped its third-straight Northeast Conference game in the Steinberg Wellness Center Saturday afternoon, as the visiting Bryant Bulldogs trumped the Blackbirds, 76-66. With the loss, LIU is now 4-16 overall, 2-7 in the NEC.
 
Junior Letava Whippy led LIU with 16 points, nine rebounds and four steals, while senior Cleandra Roberts had a double-double, with 14 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
 
The first half of the game was close, as the two teams would have the score tied six times, and see the lead change hands five times. Bryant got the board first, but LIU took a 7-4 lead at 15:34, when freshman Aleisha Myers hit a three. The Bulldogs would come back to tie it a minute and a half later, and the back-and-forth continued. At 9:50, Bryant took its widest lead of the first half, going up 16-11, but the Blackbirds would rally back. A jumper by senior Cleandra Roberts at 3:32 gave LIU the lead, 28-26, and over the next three minutes, the Blackbirds would widen that lead to six points, 33-27. Bryant hit a jumper with 35 seconds left in the first half, and the two teams went into the half with LIU up, 33-29.
 
But the second half was a different story. Coming out of halftime, Bryant hit back-to-back threes to retake the lead, 35-33. LIU would battle back, and a three pointer by Myers at 12:26 put the Blackbirds back ahead, 41-38. But the wheels started to come off at the nine-minute mark for LIU. Bryant took the lead on a three pointer, and held on to that lead for the rest of the half. Two three-pointers by Meredith Soper widened the Bulldog lead to 54-47 at 6:56. Bryant kept LIU at arms' length from then on. The closest the Blackbirds would come was with 1:43 left to play, when Myers drained another three that cut Bryant's lead to seven, 67-60. But the Bulldogs went 9-for-11 from the free throw line in the final minute and a half, keeping LIU from completing the comeback, 76-66.
 
Bryant shot 64.3 percent from three-point range in the win, making nine of its 14 attempts, including seven in the second half, in one of the major differences in the matchup.
 
Senior Cleandra Roberts had a double-double, scoring 14 points and nabbing 13 rebounds, while junior Letava Whippy led scoring for LIU with 16 points. She also had nine rebounds and four steals in the loss. Junior Kelly Robinson added 12 points and five assists, while Myers had nine points for the Blackbirds.
 
Up next, LIU hosts Sacred Heart, Monday, February 3 at 7 p.m.