Senior Tori Brillaud (North Andover, Mass.) scored a season-high 18 points to lead the Suffolk University Women's Basketball team past the Rivier University Raiders in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Quarterfinal round on Tuesday evening at the Regan Gymnasium.
The fourth-seeded Rams avenged last Thursday's 17 point defeat at the hands of the Raiders to advance in the eight team single elimination tournament.
Senior Deanna Purcell (Hudson, N.H.) led all players with 21 points in the loss for the Raiders as Suffolk held them to just 24-percent shooting as a team from the field in the contest.
Four players finished the evening with double digit scoring totals for Suffolk. Alongside Brillaud's 18 points, fellow classmate Iliana Quadri (Sudbury, Mass.) scored 14 points. Junior Alessandra Quadri (Sudbury, Mass.) joined Brillaud in finishing the game with a double-double as she also tallied 13 rebounds and added 12 points. Freshman Alexandra Nagri (Salem, N.H.) chipped in with 11 points as she was one of two Suffolk players to record four steals defensively on the evening.
Both teams came out slow offensively in the first half as Suffolk would enter the break with a 23-20 lead. Rivier was only able to must points from three players in the opening 20 minutes of action as Purcell put in eight points, while sophomore Savanna Butterfield (Londonderry, N.H.) scored eight as well and sophomore Rebecca DeBaldo (Pelham, N.H.) chipped in with four.
Suffolk would hold on to the lead for the entirety of the second half as Brillaud put together an 11-point half on 7-for-10 shooting from the free throw line. Nagri would also add 10 points as Suffolk got 21 points off their bench in the period.
The Rams held a distinct advantage on the glass in the game with a 55-40 edge in rebounds over Rivier.
The Raiders shot just 5.6-percent from beyond the arc in the loss as they were a combined 1-for-18 in the game from three-point land.
The loss ends Rivier's season as they fall to an 11-14 record on the year. They entered the tournament with the number five seed as they held a 7-4 mark in GNAC play.
Suffolk will now advance to take on top-seed Emmanuel College on Thursday evening in the semifinal round. The Saints were 77-52 winners over Albertus Magnus College on Tuesday evening. Thursday's semifinals game will tip-off at 7:00pm at Emmanuel's Jean Yawkey Center.