Monks Breeze by Women's Basketball

Monks Breeze by Women's Basketball
NEWTON, Mass. (12/1/16) – The Lasell women's basketball team fell to top contender St. Joseph's Maine in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) opener, 72-36, Thursday evening in the Athletic Center. The setback drops the Lasers to 2-4 overall, while the win boosts the Monks to 4-1 on the season.

Lasell was paced by Morgan Church (New London, N.H.) with 12 points, while Dana Ross (East Haven, Conn.) came off the bench to score 10 points.

Four starters reached double digits in scoring for the Monks with Kelsi McNamara (West Newbury, Mass.) leading the way with 16. Sophomore Julia Champagne (Brunswick, Maine) registered her second double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 boards, going 6-for-9 from the floor. Abbie Eastman (Norway, Maine) bucketed 13 points for her first double-digit score of the year, while Emily Benway (Rochester, N.H.) rounded out the scoring for the Monks with 10 points.

The reigning GNAC champs ran with a 26-3 charge in the first quarter, led by Eastman who scored eight points on 3-of-3 from the floor and 2-of-2 from downtown. Benway took over in the second quarter with six points, while Church, Becca Fenton (East Hartford, Conn.) and Liz Bougie (Sanford, Maine) put Lasell on the board to trail 42-9 at the half.

Lasell tripled its first-half score with 13 and 14 points in the latter quarters, but the Monks used 49.1% shooting from the floor to seal the deal 72-36. St. Joseph's also posted a 50% marker from three-point range, and 76.9% from the free throw line.

The Lasers will resume play after the weekend on Tuesday, December 6 with a home contest against Plymouth State at 7:00 p.m. The Monks return to the court on Saturday when they host Albertus Magnus for a 1:00 p.m. tip.