Scranton, PA, January, 11 2021 – After waiting 33 days to compete again on the hardwood, the Monroe Express women's basketball team delivered another signature moment to this record-breaking season. Sophomore Tariah Bryant (Brooklyn, New York) rose to the occasion, snatching a half-court pass and taking the other way for a fastbreak layin to complete an exciting 11-point comeback, 63-61 against Lackawanna College on the road Tuesday evening in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The Express improve to 10-1 on the season with the victory, while the Falcons fall to 5-5 with the loss.
 
After Lackawanna College's Gabrielle Jackson knocked down a pair of free throws to build the lead to three, 61-58 with 12 seconds to go, the Express called a timeout to scheme out their final offensive possession on the night. Freshman Nyeira Spady (New Rochelle, New York), who led the offensive charge for the Express with a new career-high and game-high 25 points, took the Bryant pass on the right-wing with an excellent look for the tie and fired a three-pointer to tie it up at 61 with eight seconds remaining. Head Coach Jeremy Thompson's squad looked to rattle the Falcons immediately after with a half-court trap that worked to perfection, pressuring them into an ill-advised midcourt pass that Bryant jumped up and corralled. She then raced down past the right baseline and sunk a fall-away layup as time expired to give Monroe-Bronx the thrilling victory. 
 
Freshman Taina Maldonado (New York, New York) registered 11 points off the bench, matching a career-best and team-high four steals, while Bryant contributed 10 points on the night and dished out a team-best four assists.  Spady swatted away a game-high tied two shots on the night. Sophomore Ramatoulaye Diallo (Brooklyn, New York) and freshman Maria Negron (Bronx, New York) and Maldonado also hauled down six rebounds.
 
The Express were able to get a crucial road victory despite being outrebounded 49-38 but stiffened up defensively to limit Lackawanna College to 30.3% shooting from the field with 25% and 22% shooting from the field in the third and fourth quarter. Monroe Bronx forced 20 turnovers for the eighth time this season and scored 18 points off of them.
 
Lackawanna College came out quickly in the first quarter registering seven out of the first ten points to take the lead 7-3 on a Gabrielle Jackson trey at 6:10. Monroe-Bronx countered with a 9-3 run with six points coming from Spady of three jumpers the last two to not it up at 10 and give the Express the lead back by 12-10 at the 4:45 and 3:42 mark. The Falcons closed the first quarter on a 10-4 run to lead 20-16 after one.
 
The Falcons took control of the second quarter from the opening inbound rolling off an 8-2 run over the first four and a half minutes to get their lead to double-digits for the first time, 10, 28-18 McKeyah Duley three-pointer at 5:49. After a pair of Crystal Traverso (Bronx, New York) free-throws cut the lead to 28-20 at 5:14, the Falcons would score five of the following seven points to extend their lead to 11, the largest of the night, 33-22 at 2:04 and carried that mark into the halfway point to lead 37-26.
 
The Express were a completely different team in the second half exploding in the third quarter, shooting 61.5% from the field and outscoring the Falcons 19-10 overall to make it a two-point game, 47-45 going into the final stanza.
 
Monroe-Bronx continued their momentum from the previous quarter opening with a 6-0 run to grab the lead for the first time since the 3:42 mark of the first quarter 48-47 on a Maldonado three-pointer at 8:10. They extended it to four, 51-47, their largest of the night on a Traverso jumper at 6:25, then Lackawanna responded to the Express surge with a 9-0 run over the next five minutes to stretch the lead to five, 56-51 at 1:24 when Cianna Roberts went 1-for-2 at the free-throw line. The Falcons would take the lead by five again, 59-54 on Jayla Lewis jumper with 21 seconds remaining before Spady delivered again with an point-point play 11 seconds later to cut the deficit to one, 59-58.
 
The Express would put together one more final rally to complete the second-half comeback outscoring the hosts 5-2 in the game's final seven seconds down the stretch for an exciting victory.

Gabrielle Jackson and Nya Jackson both posted double-figure scoring efforts, with Gabrielle scoring a team-high 14 points and Nya chipping in with 13 points. Daeja Cromartie was a monster on the glass for the Falcons, bringing down a game-best 20 rebounds while Ashante Amos distributed a game-high seven assists and Thay Torres gobbled up a game-best five steals. Jayla Lewis also tied a game-high with two blocks.
 
The Express women's basketball team will look to stay perfect in the New Year on the road Thursday, January 13th, against Brookdale Community College at 5 p.m. in Lincroft, New Jersey. For more information, visit the Monroe Express Women's Basketball Schedule Page.
 
Notables

• Nyeira Spady (New Rochelle, New York) picked up her team-leading tied sixth double-figure game and second 20 point scoring performance of the year. Her career-high 25 points, 15 points in the second half, bests her 24 point effort, 10 points in the first half against Springfield Tech. She was just a rebound short of her team-leading fourth double-double of the year with nine rebounds. Spady still leads the Express with three double-doubles. She has swatted away two shots in back-to-back contests with two or more in five games and has one in seven of eight games this year.
• Spady now leads the Express in scoring with 12.5 points per game (137 points) and rebounding with nine rebounds per game (99 rebounds). She also leads the team with 38 steals and 15 blocks.
• Tariah Bryant (Brooklyn, New York) is tied for the team lead with six double-digit scoring performances and five in her last five games dating back to 2021. Three of the double-digit scoring performances were against Preseason NJCAA ranked opposition. She registered a career-high 17 points against #9 Hostos C.C. at home. She is third in scoring with 8.9 points per game (89 points), leads the team with 28 assists, and has six games with three or more assists and eight with two or more. 
• Bryant  is second with 37 steals, five games with four or more steals, and eight games with two or more steals.
• Taina Maldonado (New York, New York) recorded her second double-figure scoring performance on the season, with her 11 points matching a career-best set against Essex County College. Maldonado drained three three-pointers which is a new career-high for her on the season, and she had knocked down two or more three in two of her 11 contests this season.
• Maria Negron (Bronx, New York) matched her career-high in scoring with six points and matched it for the third time this season after doing it before against UCONN Avery Point and BMCC. Negron is third on the team with eight blocks and 64 rebounds (6.4 RPG). 
• Ramatoulaye Diallo (Brooklyn, New York) has four or more rebounds in five games and has registered six or more in three contests with nine career rebounds against Orange County College.

ABOUT THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM AT MONROE COLLEGE
The athletic program at Monroe College encompasses a total of 36 teams competing across nine sports. There are 19 varsity and junior varsity programs, as well as club men's and women's rugby, the Monroe College marching band, and the newly added esports program, competing on the New Rochelle campus as the Mustangs (NJCAA Division I). The Monroe Express, based out of the Bronx campus, has 17 teams competing at the NJCAA Division III level.
 
For more information about the Monroe Express, please visit us at www.MonroeExpress.com or follow us on social media: Facebook (Monroe Express), Twitter (@MonroeExpress), and Instagram (@MonroeExpress).