Standish, Maine (2/25/14) – The Lasell College women's basketball team fell, 63-50 at St. Joseph's College of Maine in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference quarterfinals. The 7th seeded Lasers finished their season 12-14 overall, while the 2nd seeded Monks improved to 21-5 and will move on to host the 3rd seeded Raiders of Rivier Univeristy on Thursday evening. The GNAC tournament appearance was the first for the women's program since they joined the GNAC in the 2007-08 season, as the Lasers improved on their win total for the third straight season.
Sophomore Molly Lauver (Cambridge, N.Y.) scored a game-high 19 points in 8-15 shooting from the field and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds for Lasell. Junior Alexis Chappell (Springfield, Mass.) added 18 points and eight boards for the Lasers, who hurt themselves with 28 turnovers in the loss. Kayla Vincelette (Westport, Mass.) finished with eight points and five rebounds in the final game of her Lasell career.
Abby Young and Morgan Cahill each scored 14 points for St. Joseph's, with Young adding 14 rebounds and Cahill collecting nine boards and a pair of blocks. The Monks were held to 27% shooting from the floor, including 4-15 from three point territory but used 26 offensive rebounds and 19-27 effort from the free throw line to combat their poor shooting.
A free throw by Lasell's Alexis Chappell made the score 15-14 in the Monks favor with just over 10 minutes to play in the first half, and the Monks used a 9-2 run to open up the biggest lead in the first half, 24-16. Lasell responded with an 11-2 run of their own fueled by a pair of baskets by Lauver and five points from Chappell to take a 27-26 lead with 2:23 left in the first half. St. Joseph's added a free throw and a layup to take a 29-27 lead into the break.
A three pointer by Mackenzie Dufour and a layup by Cahill helped the Monks open up a 34-27 lead to start the second half, but Lasell answered yet again. Consecutive baskets by Chappell and Lauver followed by a Kayla Vincelette driving finish helped the Lasers to a 6-1 run, to make it a 35-33 ballgame. The two teams traded baskets over the next couple of minutes, as Lasell pulled within two again, 41-39, at the 9:43 mark on a jumper by Danielle Autencio (Montville, Conn.). St. Joseph's used an 18-3 run over the next six and a half minutes to open up a 59-42 lead and put the game away. Young scored seven of the first nine points in the pivotal run for the Monks, while also grabbing a pair of key offensive rebounds in the spurt.