BOSTON – Three Rams notched double figures led by a career-night from Allie Lopes to pace the Suffolk women's basketball team to a 79-64 triumph against Lasell Tuesday night inside Regan Gymnasium.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 79 | Lasell 64
RECORDS: Suffolk (15-5, 7-1 GNAC) | Lasell (5-13, 0-6 GNAC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk found itself in an 8-2 hole it had to climb out of. Marissa Gudauskas started the comeback with a triple and Jordan Hipwell put away a three of her own to turn the tides in the Rams' favor, 11-10. The foes traded hoops before Gudauskas ended the first frame with a pull-up jumper to keep the blue-and-gold ahead, 13-11.
The Lasers leveled the playing field at 13-all when Dev Markland sunk a pair of freebies on Lasell's first possession of the second stanza. The conference clash turned into a shooting clinic with the teams going bucket-for-bucket behind-the-arc. The back-and-forth treys stopped when Lopes swished her second straight hoop from three-point land to regain the edge for Suffolk, 22-19, at the 5:32 minute mark.
See-saw action ensued, but Suffolk never relinquished the lead. Over the final two minutes, the Rams outscored the Lasers, 9-2, capped off by a buzzer beater half-court shot from Gabriella DeComo, to build an 11-point, 36-25 cushion at the half.
It was back-and-forth action out of the break before a traditional three-point play from Natalie Fraioli jump started a 12-1 Rams' run that broke open a 20-point, 55-35, advantage for the hosts with just over one-minute remaining in the third quarter.
Lasell gained momentum from a pair of buckets that ended the third stanza as the Lasers opened the final frame with an 8-2 spurt to cut the margin to 10 with 8:17 left on the clock.
Lopes took matters into her own hands with. The rookie put together an 8-2 run of her own that placed the Rams ahead by 16, 67-51, at the midway point of the fourth quarter.
From there Suffolk went up by as many as 19 once again. The deficit did not distract Lasell from coming back as it the trimmed the margin back to 14 with just under two minutes to go. The Rams did not let them get any closer the rest of the way as they closed things out with a 4-2 stretch to lock up the 79-64 decision.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- Lopes finished the night with a team-high 20 points. Her offensive output came behind an 8-for-12 effort for the floor and a 3-for-6 showing from behind-the-arc. She added six caroms, one assist, one steal and one block in 28 minutes off the bench.
- Hackett contributed on both sides of the ball with a 12-rebond, 10-point double-double to go along with four dimes, three swats and two takeaways.
- Gudauskas completed the trio of double-digit scorers with 15 points. She also chipped in four boards and four helpers.
- Hipwell was on the cusp of double figures as well with nine points and Fraioli chipped in seven.
- Suffolk finished the outing shooting 47.6 percent (30-63) from the field, 41.7 percent (10-24) from downtown and 81.8 percent (9-11) from the charity stripe.
- The Rams owned the advantage on the glass, 45-40.
NOTEWORTHY
- Suffolk remains unbeaten all-time versus Lasell.
- The Rams moved to 12-0 all-time against the Lasers.
- Hackett produced her 10th double-double of the season and the 25th of her career.
- Lopes had personal-bests in points (20), field goals made (8) and three-point field goals made (3).
- Emily Welling matched career-highs in steals (2) and blocks (3).
- Fraioli matched a career-best two dimes.
- Gudauskas matched a career-high four assists.
POST-GAME PIC
WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk makes the short trip to Pine Manor Thursday, Jan. 31 where the Rams will wrap up their non-conference slate. Game time is set for 6 p.m.