Newton, Mass. – Freshman Mia Sullivan-Sanders (Anaconda, Mont.) scored 16 points off the bench to help the Lasell University Lasers women's basketball team to a win over the Dean College bulldogs, 75-45, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) matchup Saturday at the Lasell Athletic Center.
Senior Meg Carroll (Douglas, Mass.) and freshman Juju Nealy (Fitchburg, Mass.) led to Lasers with 17 points and Carroll added eight rebounds. Sullivan-Sanders scored 16 off the bench and added seven rebounds to her stat line. Despite only scoring six points, freshman Jasmine DePina (Providence, R.I.) had six rebounds, five assists and four steals.
Dean was led by junior Alexah Potter (East Hartford, Conn.) who led the game in points with 20 and in rebounds bringing down 16. Freshman Catherine Thomas (Woodbridge, Conn.) had a good day on the glass bringing down 11 rebounds.
Dean started out the game well scoring six of the first eight points over the first three minutes. The teams traded baskets getting the game to 10-7 in Dean's favor with 3:30 left in the quarter. The Lasers found an answer erasing the three-point Dean advantage and going on a 10-0 run to end the quarter.
Lasell kept that hot streak from the first going into the second scoring 13 of the first 15 points to push their lead to 16. Lasell pushed the lead as high as 22 in the second following a three by Sullivan-Sanders and a layup by Carroll. From there the teams traded baskets for the rest of the quarter with Lasell leading 41-21 going into the half.
The third quarter saw a much more even battle between the two sides. For much of the quarter the teams traded baskets. The Lasers were the first to break that trend as they made three consecutive shots without a Bulldog make. It was started on a jump shot by Carroll and then two layups by Nealy and Sullivan-Sanders. They were able to string two more together without a Bulldog make to end the quarter on a three by Nealy and layup by Depina, to go into the fourth up 60-34.
Following up a 10-point effort in the third quarter for Dean, Potter led the charge again in the fourth scoring six of their 11 points while bringing down five rebounds. She scored 16 of her 20 points in the second half. The Lasers had balance scoring throughout the lineup in the fourth quarter, as nobody scored more than four points. They used this balance to win the quarter and win the game by a score of 75-45.
A key factor in the game was the early foul trouble by Potter which took her out of much of the first half. After she was able to come back in, the Bulldogs could not overcome the deficit despite her stellar second half effort.
The key to the Lasers victory came in the turnover battle as they only had 14 turnovers compared to Bulldogs who had 31. Lasell scored 31 of their 75 points off turnovers.
The Lasers will be back in action after the new year on Monday, January 3, when they play host to University of Maine at Farmington. This will be the second matchup of the year between the two non-conference sides as they played earlier during the NAC vs GNAC challenge. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.