Wildcats Down Women's Basketball 61-34

NEWTON, Mass. (1/21/17) - The Lasell College women's basketball team scored 25 of its points in the second half, but dropped a 61-34 decision to Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) opponent Johnson & Wales University on Saturday afternoon in the Athletic Center.

The Lasers fall to 5-11 on the season and 2-7 in GNAC play, while the Wildcats jump to 9-7 overall and 4-3 in conference with their third win in four games.

Sophomore Liz Bougie (Sanford, Maine) led the Lasers with 12 points, including nine in the second half. She scored all of her points from three-point range on 4-of-12 overall shooting while also collecting six rebounds. Junior Morgan Church (New London, N.H.) added nine points, six rebounds, five assists, and two steals, while freshman Dana Ross (East Haven, Conn.) grabbed a team-high 11 boards.

Junior Raquel Pederzani (Coventry, R.I.) paced the Wildcats with 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting and 4-of-5 from three, while junior Ashley Thompson (Bellingham, Mass.) added 14. Sophomore Ally Mishol (Longmeadow, Mass.) grabbed ten rebounds, while Pederzani and junior Kristen Habbel (Phoenixville, Pa.) each recorded four assists.

Thompson scored four of the game's first six points for the visitors in less than a two-minute span before Ross brought the Lasers within a 6-2 score with a layup at the 7:51 mark. The four-point margin was as close as Lasell would come in the contest as the Wildcats then went on an 11-2 run to extend their lead to 19-7 before the first quarter closed.

Bougie hit Lasell's only three of the first half with 23 seconds left in the opening quarter to bring Lasell within ten, but JWU was dominant in the second, outscoring the Lasers by an 11-2 count. JWU shot 40 percent in the first half, but hit three of its six attempts from distance.

After Lasell junior Madison Cota's (Bellows Falls, Vt.) jumper 52 seconds into the second quarter, the Wildcats went on a 14-0 run that expanded the score to 35-9. Ross hit a free throw with 4:48 to play in the third to put Lasell back on the board, while Bougie hit a pair of threes in the final 90 seconds of the quarter as part of an 8-2 run for the hosts.

Lasell's best showing of the day was a 16-point fourth quarter during which it shot 37.5 percent from the field and hit three more triples, all by different players. JWU scored four of the first six points in the frame before the Lasers' Fenton hit a three with 7:47 to play to spark a 9-2 run.

Church scored Lasell's last five points of the game, hitting a jumper from three with 2:30 left and a layup in the last minute. Bougie scored nine points in the second half, while Church hit three of her seven from beyond the arc.

Both teams are back in GNAC action on Thursday, January 26 at 7:00 p.m. as Lasell travels north to face the Monks of St. Joseph's College of Maine and JWU hosts Suffolk.