The women’s basketball teams’ up and down season continued last week, as the team split its two games in hopes of keeping its playoff chances alive.

The first game of the week for the team was a Tuesday road matchup against Stonehill College,  The Dolphins fell to a score of 65-61 in a hotly contested game that came down to the final minutes.

Stonehill guards Tori Faieta and Amy Pelletier nailed a trio of three pointers to start off the contest, leaving the Dolphins at a five point disadvantage four minutes into the game. The Dolphins were not fazed however, and responded by stringing together a 7-0 run led by Alex Marple that would put the Dolphins ahead as the first half neared its midpoint.

But just as Le Moyne fought back, Stonehill countered with even more high-powered offense. Stonehill went on a number of runs to close out the half, and the score was 33-28 in favor of Stonehill as the first half reached its conclusion.

The second half saw the Dolphins come out of the gate strong, with the team pulling to within one point of the lead a quarter of the way through the second half, but that early start was once again countered by a 9-1 run by Stonehill.

The game remained tight for the rest of the half, but ultimately Stonehill proved to be too much to handle late in the game, and Stonehill took the victory 65-61 despite being outscored 33-32 in the second half. Alex Marple was the leading scorer for the Dolphins, contributing 18 points to the team’s score.

Looking to rebound from their Tuesday loss, the Dolphins hosted Franklin Pierce at Le Moyne’s Ted Grant Court with an eye on grabbing another conference victory.

The game kicked off with both teams being white-hot. Neither team missed a shot in the opening four minutes of the game, with Le Moyne hanging on to a tenuous 14-13 lead. That lead wouldn’t remain tenuous for very long

The Dolphins went on a scoring rampage to close out the first half, scoring 30 of the last 36 points scored in the half. The charge was led by junior forward Emily Greer, who ended up posting a career high 28 points on the day.

Entering the second half with a 52-33 lead, the Dolphins knew they simply needed to protect their lead and close out the game strong to come home with the W, and that’s exactly what they did.

Franklin Pierce was able to slow the game down a bit in the second half, and actually outscored the Dolphins 30-29 to end the game, but it wasn’t nearly enough to erase the lead the Dolphins built in the first half. The Dolphins came home with an 81-63 victory and closed the week with an 11-9 record (7-7 in NE-10).

With the season winding down and playoff hopes still alive, the Dolphins will continue their season on Saturday Feb. 8,  at Southern Connecticut State.