NEC Uses Late Burst to Trip Women's Hoops, 64-60

NEWTON, Mass. (1/28/14) - The Lasell College women's basketball team dropped Tuesday night's game, 64-60, at home against the visiting Pilgrims of New England College. The loss dropped the Lasers to 8-9 overall and the Pilgrims improved to 8-9 on the season in the non-conference match-up.

Sophomore guard Katie Stopera (Hollis, N.H.) took charge for the Lasers shooting 6-11 from the field and a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line. Her performance resulted in a team high 18 points as well as pulling down four boards and stealing the ball three times from the opposition. Sophomore forward Breeana Williams (Bloomfield, Conn.) and junior forward Danielle Autencio (Montville, Conn.) each tallied nine points in the loss, where Williams shot 7-8 from the free throw stripe and Autencio pulled down a team high six rebounds.

Junior guard Kayla Lawlor (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) led the Pilgrims in points and assists, tallying 19 points and a game high six assists. Lawlor shot 6-11 from the field and 4-5 from the free throw line. Senior forward Shauntaye Pumphret (Franklin, N.H.) put in 10 points of her own making three of her four attempts from three point territory. Junior forward Taylor Burgess (Randallstown, Md.) took pulled down a game-high eight rebounds and added 12 points of her own including a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line.

The Lasers jumped out to an early lead, using six points from Katie Stopera to build a 15-2 lead in the first 7:19. Consecutive baskets from Kayla Lawlor stopped the run for NEC, cutting the hosts lead to nine but Lasell quickly re-established their margin taking a 26-10 lead with 7:02 left in the opening half after a free throw from Vincelette. Lawlor answered with a personal 7-0 run to get the Lasers lead back into single digits at nine, and the two teams traded baskets over the final minutes of the half, sending Lasell into the break with a 34-25 lead.

New England College slowly trimmed the Lasell lead to 43-40 over the opening seven minutes of the second half behind a trio of three pointers, one from Pumphret and a pair from Lawlor. The visitors tied the game at 45-45 at the 9:53 mark of the second half, eventually leading by as many as five at 52-47 following a triple from Pumphret with 7:45 left. Lasell answered with a 10-0 run behind four points apiece from Stopera and Sherilyn Small (Springfield, Mass.) to take a 57-52 lead with just over four minutes remaining. NEC cut the deficit to 59-58 with 1:46 on four free throws, two each from Lawlor and Burgess. Breeana Williams made one of two from the line for Lasell to make it 60-58, but the Pilgrims found Katarina Muska on the baseline where she converted her only field goal of the game from three point land to put NEC up 61-60 with 1:12 on the clock. The Lasers missed and Burgess scored on a layup with 34 seconds to play to make it 63-60. Lasell got a good look from behind the arc that fell short and Pumphret iced the game making one of two for the final 64-60 margin.  

The Pilgrims of New England College return to the floor with a trip to Maine-Farmington on Friday at 5:30 p.m., while the Lasers return to conference play with their trip to Johnson & Wales (R.I.) on Saturday February, 1st for a 1:00 p.m. match-up.