NEWTON, Mass. (2/20/16) – The Lasell College women's basketball team capped off their regular season slate with a 77-58 victory over the visiting Blue Jays of the University of St. Joseph's on Saturday afternoon. The Lasers improved to 12-13 on the year and 5-6 in Great Northeast Athletic Conference play, while the Blue Jays dropped to 3-22 overall and 2-9 in league action.
Lasell senior guard Katie Stopera (Hollis, N.H.) paced the hosts with 30 points, becoming the program's all-time leading scorer on a driving layup with 50 seconds remaining in the contest. Stopera pushed her career scoring tally to 1,247 in three seasons at Lasell, surpassing Courtney Casserly's mark of 1,244 set in 2007. She also handed out a game-high five assists to go with five steals.
Senior guard Deanna Barrett (Berlin, Conn.) tallied 24 points on 9-13 shooting including a 3-5 effort from three point territory, to go with five rebounds for the Lasers. Junior guard Sherilyn Small (Springfield, Mass.) chipped in 11 points and four steals in the victory.
Sophomore forward Kayla Guest (Newington, Conn.) posted a double-double for the University of St. Joseph's with 30 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, and she was joined in double figures by junior guard Carlee Putnam (Niantic, Conn.) who chipped in 12 points and seven rebounds.
Lasell jumped out to an early lead behind some hot shooting from behind the arc, knocking down four three pointer field goals including a pair by sophomore Brianna Hoffman (Milford, N.H.) too take a 20-8 lead through the opening 10 minutes. The Lasers continued to be hot from the floor to open the second period pushing their lead to 32-10 with 6:46 to play in the half courtesy of nine points from Barrett and a Stopera three pointer.
A Kayla Guest three point play jump started the visitors attack as they closed the half on a 17-7 run trimming the Lasell lead to 39-27 at intermission.
Lasell pushed their advantage back to 22, at 62-40 behind 10 third quarter points from Stopera, and the Blue Jays were unable to get closer than 17 the rest of the way.
Lasell honored their senior class, Katie Stopera, Deanna Barrett, Ashley Gleason (Suffield, Conn.), Beka Costa (Methuen, Mass.), Breeana Williams (Bloomfield, Conn.) and Sammy Long (Staten Island, N.Y.) prior to the afternoon tilt. The seventh seeded Lasers will travel to second seeded Johnson and Wales on Tuesday February 23rd for a 5:30 p.m. GNAC tournament quarterfinal match-up.