MCC Win Streak at Four after 75-68 Win

MANCHESTER, CT- Freshman Erika Murphy (Torrington) had 19 points leading MCC to a 75-68 win over Dean College at East Catholic on Saturday afternoon. Murphy also had nine rebounds and three assists.

The Cougars, who won their fourth straight after having to give up a victory at Holyoke for using an ineligible player, held a 36-31 advantage at halftime, but trailed in the second half for the first time this season. Dean put together an early 11-0 run, took a 58-56 lead with 7:21 to play, then tied it at 65-all with 4:24 left.

“We played better defense toward the end,” MCC Coach Robert Turner said. “With the press we normally run, people were missing assignments and they were making easy lay-ups, so we had to take that off. We went to our half-court defense and did a better job.”

Jhenel Franklin (Windsor) had another triple-double – her fourth in six games – with 10 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists. Franklin, who’s triple-double on Thursday was actually a quadruple-double, also had five steals. Amanda Morales (West Hartford) had 15 points, including three from three-point range.

“Jhenel played very big,” Turner said. “She kind of controlled the offense. There was a lot of communication down there defensively. After they made a couple of threes, we kind of shut that down in the later part of the second half.”

MCC (6-1) continued its hot hand at the free-throw line, converting 19 of 26 for 73%. Shanika Hines (Manchester), who was 2 for 2, has made 25 of her last 26 attempts.

Dean College (5-3) sophomore Shelley Monahan led all scorers with 28 points.

The Cougars will play three straight road games starting with a trip to Fall River, MA on Tuesday to play Bristol CC at 7pm. MCC’s next home game will be after the holiday break against Quinsigamond CC on Saturday January 3 at 1PM.