WBB: Lasers Boast Impressive Home Win vs Fitchburg

Newton, MA - Lasell women's basketball faced the Falcons of Fitchburg State on Monday evening at the Athletic Center. 

The Lasers trailed early with an 11-4 deficit and struggled with some turnovers in the early going. A 3-pointer by Abigail Duclous and corner jumper by Elainna Villegas compiled a quick 5-0 run and made it a one-possession game, but the Lasers would still trail 13-9 at the end of the first quarter. Some gritty offensive rebounding and hustle by Blaize Mack helped to fuel the early Lasell possessions in the second quarter as she scored 4 straight to tie the game up 13-13 a little over a minute into the second. A minute later, Juju Nealy found her again on a baseline inbound play, getting an and-one as she finished the layup through contact and sunk the free throw giving the Lasers their first lead of the game. Kiara Cerruti then nailed a top of the key three the subsequent possession expanding the Lasers lead to 6. After another Blaize Mack bucket in the paint, they opened an 8-point, 23-15 lead. A 7-0 Fitchburg response however, forced the Lasers to call timeout after cutting the lead down to 1. Out of the timeout, Mack continued her dominance on the offensive boards with a rebound and putback jumper which she repeated the next possession with an offensive board and layup. This was the start of the 8-0 run to go into the half up 9, 31-22. 

Kiara Cerruti opened up the second half with a pull-up jumper in transition off a steal to push the Laser lead to double figures for the first time. Shirle Major soon thereafter added 2 threes on consecutive possessions to give the Lasers a 13-point lead. Later in the third, after a steal and and-one bucket from Mia Sullivan-Saunders Lasell held a 20-point advantage 51-31. Outscoring them 25-12 in the third, the Lasers took a 22-point lead into the fourth where they held on to win by a final score of 78-51. 

Blaize Mack led all scorers with 15 points on the night also adding in a game high 9 rebounds. Shirle Major was the other Laser in double figures with 12. Bench scoring also proved to be a big difference maker in this one as Lasell outscored Fitchburg 32-14. Also 14 of the 18 Lasers who touched the floor in the game scored.

Up Next - The Lasers will have one more game on the road at Westfield State on Saturday ahead of Christmas break.