HENNIKER, N.H. – The New England College women's basketball team had a solid command of the first half, being up by 10 against the visiting Lasers of Lasell University was unable to be maintained by the conclusion of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference matchup. The 'Grims endured a 62-56 loss on Saturday at the Bridges Gymnasium in Henniker, New Hampshire.
 
THE BASICS
Score: Lasell University 62, New England College 56
Records: Lasers 9-7, 4-1 GNAC | Pilgrims 7-9, 1-4 GNAC

TURNING POINTS

• In the early going NEC was up by four but was shortened to just one after shot from behind the arc was cashed in by senior guard Juju Nealy (Fitchburg, Mass.) at 7:56. NEC junior forward Abigail Lacy (Arroyo Grande, Calif.) converted on a layup shortly after, senior guard Amya Moss (Norfolk, Va.) found herself at the line at 6:15 making both shots for the three point lead, 8-5. Junior guard Mackenzie McDonald (Boscawen, N.H.) would hit two big three pointers for the team that stretched the lead out to seven with 3:35 remaining, 14-7. From there on the NEC defense fired on all cylinders only allowing the Lasers to score three points as the 'Grims put up eight points obtaining a 12-point lead by the end of the first quarter, 22-10.
• NEC was able to maintain their defensive intensity for the majority of the second quarter. The 'Grims kept LU from scoring for the first 3:09 of the quarter while they already scored four points within that time frame to establish a 16-point lead, 26-10. The next bucket for NEC would come from the charity strip from Moss making one of her two shots, LU responded by making the next two shots for four points attempting to crawl back into the game with 3:23 on the clock, 27-15 still in favor of NEC. LU continued to find ways to score as they sunk two back-to-back threes, Moss had the last say in the quarter as she got into the paint for the layup to provide NEC with a 10-point advantage over the Lasers going into halftime, 31-21.
• Things began to slip away from the 'Grims as the defense began to falter as the Lasers put together 10-1 run that knotted up the score at 4:51, 34-34. NEC was still on top by the end of the third quarter but only by a point with LU not too far off from coming back in the closely contest outing, 46-45.
• The momentum began to take a shift favoring the Lasers as their offense really started to take off when they needed it to most as they executed a 17-4 run leaving the 'Grims with 1:26 left to prevail over the situation brought upon them being down by 12, 62-50. NEC would snap out of it too late scoring six points that proved to not be enough to come up with an answer for the offensive success that the Lasers put together in the final quarter that earned them the 62-56 win over NEC.

 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• LU freshman guard Alexis Bulson-Cuozzo (Medford, N.Y.) had a slow start but scored all her points in the third quarter taking off for 11 points on the day. Sophomore guard Blaize Mack (Chicopee, Mass.) had herself an 11-point outing as well. Nealy and junior guard Shirle Major (Worcester, Mass.) followed up with double digit scoring numbers for the Lasers. Junior guard Lauren Johnson (Groton, Conn.) was all over glass collecting an impressive 19 boards.
• Moss had the game-high scoring 18 points during the conference matchup. NEC senior forward Gabriella Matlock (Tulare, Calif.) collected a team-high of seven rebounds.
• NEC had command of points off turnovers, 19-12.
• The Lasers capitalized on their threes recording a percentage of 38.9% while NEC could only muster 15.8%.
• It was a close battle for second chance points, but the Lasers had control of that phase of the game collecting 13 compared to NEC's eight.

 
UP NEXT

• Up next for NEC, the team will be on the road Tuesday, January 21^st at 7:30 PM for another GNAC clash against Colby-Sawyer College from Dan & Kathleen Hogan Sports Center
• LU will host Dean College on Tuesday, January 21^st at 5:30 PM.

 
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