Lasell Women’s Basketball celebrates Senior Day with win over USJ

NEWTON, Mass. – Senior Morgan Church (New London, N.H.) and sophomore Dana Ross (East Haven, Conn.) posted double-doubles Saturday afternoon as Lasell College celebrated Senior Day with a 68-42 victory over the University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) women's basketball game at the Lasell Athletic Center.

Church poured in 27 points, making 5-of-10 three-point shots, and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Lasers, while Ross scored 10 points and collected a game-high 14 rebounds and three steals. The team's other senior, Brianna Hoffman (Milford, N.H.), also reached double figures in scoring with 12 points and freshman Devyn Markland (Derby, Conn.) was solid off the Laser bench with four points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots.

The Lasers snapped an eight-game losing streak to improve to 4-18 overall and 2-12 in the GNAC, while the Blue Jays slipped to 8-14 overall and 3-11 in conference play.

Senior Rajeen Mayo (Middletown, Conn.) led the visitors with 14 points and eight rebounds, while freshman Anna Chevarella (Derby, Conn.) and senior Kayla Guest (Newington, Conn.) chipped in with eight points apiece.

The game was close for the first five minutes with the home team leading by one point (7-6), but Church scored eight straight points over the next three minutes, hitting a pair of three-pointers, to give the Lasers a 15-6 lead after one quarter.

Mayo sank a free throw in the first minute of the second quarter, but USJ did not score again for the next six minutes while Lasell rank off 16 consecutive points to push the lead to 24 points at 31-7. Six different Lasers scored during the streak, led by Hoffman with four points. The Blue Jays scored the final six points of the quarter to cut the deficit to 31-13 at the intermission.

Lasell maintained its 20-point margin most of the third quarter, reaching as high as 28 points (43-15) midway through the frame, and held a 19-point advantage (49-30) after three. That's as close as the Blue Jays would come as Lasell led by more than 20 throughout the fourth quarter.

Both teams wind up their seasons next week with three straight road games. Lasell begins the week with a visit to Saint Joseph's College (Maine) on Tuesday, Feb. 13, for at GNAC contest at 5:30 p.m., while USJ travels to Simmons College on the same day for a conference match-up at 7:00 p.m.

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