WBB: Women's Basketball Season Comes to an End at Elms

Chicopee, MA - In a rematch of Saturday's regular-season finale, the Lasers and Blazers matched up once again for a GNAC Tournament Play-In round game on Monday night.

The Lasers who had fallen at Elms on Saturday looked to find revenge Monday night and advance to the quarterfinal round of the GNAC Tournament. Having this in the back of their minds, they came out the gate opening a 17-7 lead which spanned for majority of the first quarter. The first-quarter lead was supported by 7 different Lasers who scored baskets in the opening frame. They would take an 18-9 advantage heading into the second quarter. 

Early in the second Juju Nealy drilled a 3-pointer which gave the Lasers their biggest lead of 12, 21-9. After this though, the Blazers made their run-scoring the next 10 points and nearly erased the Laser lead. After the game had gotten to within just a point, Daeserae Williamson got inside twice scoring four points late in the quarter which resulted in a 28-25 score going into the break. 

The third quarter saw Elms capture their first lead of the game 32-30 after a 7-2 opening. The Lasers then rattled off a 7-0 run which catapulted them back in front 37-32. This was short-lived as the Blazers tied the game up on multiple occasions through the rest of the quarter and hit a three late in the shot clock to tie the game again 44-44 going into the fourth. 

Elms continued to open their quarters in the second half well with another run which saw them take their biggest lead to that point of 6, 50-46. In need of shifting the momentum, the Lasers responded with an 8-0 run which was capped by a Laura Johnson and one with 4:21 remaining, putting the Lasers up 52-50. Over the next two minutes, however, Elms would have their most critical stretch of the game outscoring the Lasers 11-2 and going up by 7 with just about 2 minutes left. Continuing to hit their free throws down the stretch, the Lasers couldn't make up the deficit and were defeated 66-60. 

Shirle Major led the Lasers in scoring on Monday netting 13 points which included 3 triples. Juju Nealy had 10 points and off the bench, Hailey Johnson added 8 points. Laura Johnson also finished out the season with another double-figure rebound output pulling down 12 boards. 

Up Next - The Lasers will be losing seniors Juju Nealy, Jasmine DePina, Mia Sullivan-Saunders, and Glo Lubunga who were all key pieces of the team's core over the past several years. They look to fill these holes next year with a slew of young talent including returning 10 Freshmen. They also retain Shirle Major and Laura Johnson who look to step up even further as seniors next season.