NEWTON, Mass. – Junior guard Trish Liotta (Hampton Bays, N.Y.) sank a pair of free throws with nine seconds remaining as Mount Ida College emerged from a back and forth fourth quarter with a 67-66 win over Lasell College in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) on Saturday afternoon at the Athletic Center.
Lasell drops to 5-18 overall and 2-13 in the conference, while the Mustangs earn their second straight win and their first road win of the season, improving to 7-16 overall and 3-11 in the GNAC.
Lasell was paced by 16 points and five assists from Morgan Church (New London, N.H.) and 15 points off the bench from Brianna Hoffman (Milford, N.H.), who also had four assists and four steals.
Angelique Martinez (Taunton, Mass.) grabbed her 22nd rebound at the buzzer and a had double-double with 12 points and four assists, matching her second highest rebounding performance, the third best in program history. Liz Bougie (Sanford, Maine) added 12 points in the loss for Lasell, while Dana Ross (East Haven, Conn.) had ten rebounds to lead the team and just missed a double-double with eight points.
Mount Ida led 23-11 after one quarter and took their largest lead of 14 points early in the second period before Lasell trimmed the deficit to seven points, 37-30 at the break.
The Mount Ida lead was still seven when Martinez made a layup to start the fourth quarter, but Hoffman socred five points on either side of a Church layup to tie the game for the Lasers.
Mount Ida scored eight straight points to re-take the lead, and again Lasell battled back, this time using a 9-0 run of their own that included a three-pointer, a steal, and a three-point play converted by Hoffman on back to back possessions.
The teams exchanged one-point leads six times over the next four minutes, and Liotta was able to get to the line with under ten seconds left on the clock and Mount Ida down a point, sinking her fifth and sixth points of the game to give the Mustangs the lead.
Lasell had a good look at a winning basket, but a jumper just missed and Martinez corralled the board as the horn sounded.
Mount Ida senior Katlyn Jesse (Marshfield, Mass.) continued to push towards her 1,000 point plateau with 16 points, leaving her just 21 shy of the milestone. Junior Breanna Muir (Wareham, Mass.) scored eight points and grabbed five rebounds in the win.
The Lasers wrap up their regular season next Saturday with a 1:00 pm home game against Norwich University, while the Mustangs will honor six seniors next Tuesday night when they play their final regular season home game of the year, a 5:00 pm tip-off against Johnson & Wales.
