Newton, Mass.-  The Lasell College women's basketball team came up short against the visiting Johnson & Wales University on Tuesday night in GNAC competition. The Wildcats, who left with a 70-57 victory over the Lasers, were led by the play of Johanna Santosuosso (Salem, NH) who had a game high 18 points, and Alexia Ramirez (San Marcos, CA) who added 12 points, 9 rebounds, and four blocks.

JWU jumped out to an early ten point lead after Alyse Ragaglia (West Newbury, Mass.), Ramirez, and Santosuosso each nailed three point shots, one after another in the first few minutes.  After Shauna Kelly (Quincy, Mass.) ended the Wildcats run by hitting one of two free throws, the Lasers went on a nine point run of their own over five minutes and brought the game within one point. 

The Wildcats widened the gap to ten once again with 2:35 remaining in the half.  Regardless of the fact that the Lasers' struggled to find their shooting touch in the half, shooting just 21% on 7 of 32 field goal attempts, they headed into the half down by seven points after a last second shot by Victoria Elms (Glastonbury, Conn.).

Jeniphr Moxley (Lakewood, WA) opened the second half with four points to knock JWU's lead up to eleven.  At 14:17, JoAnna Bishop (So. Burlington, VT) cut the Wildcats lead to just six after hitting an outside jump shot, followed by a three by Lasell's Katie Farr (Rindge, NH).

The Wildcats lead jumped up to nineteen with seven minutes remaining, but the Lasers continued to fight back.  Katie Schumitz (Milford, Conn.) hit 3 of 5 from behind the arc on her way to fifteen second half points, trimming the Lasers deficit, however, the Lasers still came up short.

Schumitz led all scorers for Lasell with fifteen points, and also picked up seven rebounds. Kelly completed her double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Amanda Driscoll (Roslindale, Mass.) came off the bench to grab six boards for Lasell as well as added five points, and Elms finished the night with an additional five points and five rebounds.

Johnson & Wales finishes the contest with a 7-8 overall record and is currently 2-0 in the conference. Lasell is now 4-9 this season and 1-1 in the GNAC. 

Lasell plays again on Thursday, January 15th at Curry College. Tip off time is 7:00 p.m.