NEWTON, Mass. (1/25/14) – The Lasell College women's basketball team claimed their first Great Northeast Athletic Conference victory, 68-65 over Albertus Magnus on Saturday afternoon. The win evened the Lasers overall record at 8-8 and improved their GNAC record to 1-2. Albertus Magnus slipped to 3-15 on the season and 0-4 in conference play.
Alexis Chappell (Springfield, Mass.) paced the hosts attack with 26 points on 10-16 shooting from the field while going a perfect 6-6 from the line. Danielle Autencio (Montville, Conn.) added nine points and a game-high 13 rebounds for Lasell, Katie Stopera (Hollis, N.H.) chipped in seven points and 11 boards. Breeana Williams (Bloomfield, Conn.) came off the bench to chip in nine points and five rebounds for Lasell and Deanna Barrett (Berlin, Conn.) tacked on eight points and three assists in a reserve role.
Lianna Carrero (Hamden, Conn.) scored a game-high 33 points to lead the way for the Falcons, converting 10-22 shots from the floor and 11-12 from the free throw line. Annie Ranucci (Milford, Conn.) played a solid all-around game for Albertus Magnus with six points, five rebounds and four assists.
Autencio scored on an offensive rebound put-back with just over a minute to play to give Lasell a 66-65 lead, then the junior forward converted a pair of free throws with 12 seconds in the contest after grabbing an offensive rebound following a Williams missed free throw to put the Lasers up three. The Falcons were unable to get off a shot in the waning seconds and the hosts captured the hard-fought victory.
Lasell ran out to an early 12-4 lead in the opening five minutes but Albertus climbed back into the mix, using back-to-back three pointers to trim the lead to 14-13 with ten minutes gone in the contest. A jumper by Kayla Vincelette (Westport, Mass.) gave Lasell a 24-19 lead, but Carrero again pulled the visitors back into the contest. The senior AMC guard converted eight consecutive free throws along with a trio of pull-up jumpers to record the final 14 points of the opening half the Falcons leaving Lasell with a narrow 35-33 lead at the break.
A Carrero triple with 14:35 remaining gave Albertus a 47-43 lead, extending their lead to as many as six on multiple occasions. Trailing 63-57 with 3:34 left Lasell used a three pointer from Stopera to cut the deficit to three, and then Autencio converted two free throws to make it a 63-62 game with 2:15 left. The Lasers forced a turnover on Albertus Magnus's ensuing possession, as Chappell came up with a steal and a fast-break layup to put Lasell in front 64-63. Carrero answered with a driving lay-up to put Albertus back on top 65-64, setting up the Autencio's game-winning putback.
Lasell will host New England College on Tuesday January 28th at 7:00 p.m. in their final non-conference game before returning to GNAC action.