BOSTON, Mass. – Despite a big opening and closing quarter, the Lasell women's basketball team fell short to the Rams of Suffolk University, 61-50, in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action Thursday night inside Regan Gymnasium.
Sophomore Taylor Hughey (Redding, Calif.) came off the bench as Lasell's leading scorer, sinking all 4-of-6 field goals from beyond the arc. Classmate Jaime Caron (Derry, N.H.) posted a big seven-point fourth quarter for the Lasers, and tallied 11 in the showing with an additional three boards. Defensively, Dana Ross (East Haven, Conn.) pulled down 10+ rebounds for the fourth time this season with 12 this evening.
A see-saw affair came off the tip with the lead changing four times, as Suffolk's Georgia Bourikas sparked a 9-0 stretch that gave the Rams a 12-6 cushion midway through the first frame. In the latter end of the first quarter, the Lasers outscored the Rams 9-5 to trim the deficit to just two via three consecutive trios from Becca Fenton (East Hartford, Conn.) and Hughey.
The score deadlocked twice in the early stages of the second frame before Caitlyn Caramello got things started with a setup by Alexandra Nagri to ignite the Suffolk scoring. Katelyn Rourke capped off eight unanswered Rams points to make it a 27-19 Suffolk game with 6:19 to play before half time.
With under four minutes to go before the intermission, Lasell cut the margin to five, 31-26, but the Rams rallied once again. Four points from Rourke and a bucket from behind the arc from Bourikas sent the Rams into the locker rooms up 12, 38-26.
At the 2:41 minute mark in the third, Bourikas put in a layup to jump start an 11-run by the Rams, which included treys from Kelsey Schiebel and Marissa Gudauskas, and gave the Rams a 55-33 cushion heading into the final quarter. Lasell dominated the final frame with big help to Caron who sunk all 3-of-3 field goals, but the Rams held on for the 61-50 final.
The Lasers will play their final regular season road game on Saturday, February 4 against Rivier at 1:00 p.m. while the Rams close their homestand on the same day as they welcome undefeated GNAC rival St. Joseph's Maine.