Women's Hoops Stymied by Late Westfield St. Run

NEWTON, Mass. (12/5/13) - The Lasell College women's basketball team fell 66-53 at the hands of the Westfield State Owls on Thursday evening. The loss dropped the Lasers to 3-5 on the season, while Westfield State improved to 3-3 for the year. 

Junior forward Alexis Chappell (Springfield, Mass.) led the Lasers, scoring a team-high 15 points on 7-11 shooting from the field and 1-3 from the free throw line. Sophomore Katie Stopera (Hollis, N.H.) finished with 13 points and six rebounds and classmate Molly Lauver (Cambridge, N.Y.) while chipped in 10 points, eight rebounds and five assists for Lasell.

Junior center Gabby Felix (Springfield, Mass.) took charge for the Owls as she posted a double-double by scoring a game-high 17 points and pulling down a game-high 12 boards. Her 8-13 shooting from the field in 32 minutes of play came with two assists and two steals on the night. Junior guard Jen Ashton (Beverly, Mass.) was a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw stripe, while putting in a total of 13 points and stealing the ball a game high of six times in her 35 minutes of play. Sophomore guard Keri Doldoorian (Whitinsville, Mass.) led the Owls in assists with six on the evening and adding 15 points to the Owls total. 

The first half of the game was back and forth after the Owls jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in the first two minutes of play. Lasell responded with a 12-4 run helped by a trio of layups from Chappell to take the lead 12-9 halfway through the first period. Both teams struggled to find the range in the first half, and Lasell claimed a 20-18 lead with 4:41 remaining in the half on a jumper and a pair of free throws from Katie Stopera. A Doldoorian with just over a minute left in the half gave Westfield a 23-20 lead at the break.

Westfield State pushed their lead to seven points in the opening minutes of the second half, before a Stopera three pointer and Sherilyn Small layup pulled the Lasers within three points of the visitors at 36-33 with 12:08 left only to see the visitors hit three of their next four to take a 44-35 lead with seven minutes to go. The Lasers rallied back to come within two points of the Owls, courtesy of Chappell and Stopera with four and three points respectively to make the score to 49-47 with three minutes remaining. This is as close as the Lasers would get as Westfield used a pair of three pointers from Doldoorian to push their lead to 57-47 with 1:26 left and the Owls closed out the 66-53 victory at the line. 

The Lasers return to the court on Tuesday with a 6:00 p.m. home game against Eastern Nazarene College, while Westfield State continues their road trip to Smith College for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off against the Pioneers.