BOSTON – In a standing room only Regan Gymnasium, the Suffolk women's basketball team fell victim to its GNAC and Beantown foe, Emmanuel, 67-51, Saturday afternoon.
Suffolk dropped its second straight, moving to 9-6 on the year and 1-1 against GNAC opponents. Emmanuel improved to 12-4 overall and kept its conference record unblemished at 3-0.
For the second straight game, Georgia Bourikas paced the Rams offensively as the junior guard provided 14 points, shooting 4-of-8 from the field and 2-of-5 from behind-the-arc. Chelsea Campellone chipped in 12 points and Kelsey Schiebel added nine.
Emmanuel received a 25-point, 11-rebound, double-double effort from Sarah Higgins. The Saints capitalized on the Rams' turnovers, turning Suffolk's 11 mistakes into 18 points. Emmanuel held advantages in rebounds, 56-42, and points in the paint, 20-14.
Over the opening minutes it was tit-for-tat as the GNAC and Boston rivals traded hoops and the score deadlocked at five. Emmanuel used back-to-back hoops to build an early 12-6 that blossomed to a 24-14 advantage after the first 10 minutes.
Bourikas put in three points and Alexandra Quadri swished one from long range to cut the deficit to single digits, 29-20, with 4:51 on the clock. The Saints did not let the Rams hang around for long, however, as the visitors quickly rebuilt the double figure lead to take a 37-25 edge into the half.
Suffolk was limited to a 28.1 connection rate (9-32) from the field in the first half, but shot 40 percent from 3-point land to stay within striking distance of Emmanuel who put together a 37.5 percentage (15-40) from the floor and went 6-of-14 from three. Bourikas and Schiebel led the Rams with six points each, while Higgins scored 16 of the Saints' 37 points.
Out of the locker rooms, Emmanuel kept its full-court pressure on piled on the points in the third, outscoring the Rams, 20-12, for a 57-37 lead after three quarters.
The Rams comeback attempt came in the final frame. After Quadri struck from deep, Bourikas followed with a three of her own to make it an 11-point game, 61-50, with 2:47 left on the clock. Suffolk had its opportunities to cut the deficit to single digits, but a traditional three-point play by Higgins was the difference and Emmanuel held on for the 67-51 conference victory.
Suffolk finished the day shooting 33.3 percent (17-51) from the floor and 46.7 percent (7-15) from three, compared to Emmanuel's numbers (29.5 floor / 28.6 three).
With one day to prepare, Suffolk will trek to Standish, Maine on Martin Luther King Day for a 1 p.m. match with the Monks of Saint Joseph's College.