Meghan Averill’s 20-point performance on 7-11 shooting led the Salve Regina University Women’s Basketball team over host Suffolk University 73-63 on Tuesday’s Spirit Night at Regan Gymnasium.

The Seahawks also received 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists from starting point guard Allegra Lavoy and never trailed in the second half after taking a 35-28 lead into halftime. Suffolk’s tough play forced a 48-48 tie with 10:20 remaining in the game. The Seahawks quickly responded with a key 10-0 run in the next four minutes to ice the victory and take a 58-48 lead with just over six minutes remaining. Averill scored the first two points of the run with a jumper thanks to a Lavoy assist. Averill later capped off the game-breaking run with three free throws to end her night.

The Rams made a last ditch effort in the closing minutes, getting as close as 66-60 after a Kerry Bowman (Guilford, CT) with 1:08 to go. Bowman scored 13 points in the game.

Suffolk led by as many as six twice in the first half and had a 23-17 advantage with 6:39 left before the Seahawks exploded for an 18-5 run to close the half. Salve’s stifling defense forced Suffolk into 11 turnovers in the first 20 minutes and held star post player Meghan Tracey (Rehoboth, MA) to a surprising 3-10 shooting during the half.

The Rams entered Tuesday night’s game with a 2-0 record after a 31-point blow out of Gordon College on the road and a 90-35 victory over UMass-Dartmouth at home, but managed to shoot just 31.9% from the field and a crushing 2-12 from the charity stripe.

Tracey bounced back in the second half to finish with 14 points and 15 rebounds before fouling out late in the game. Laura Thompson (Kennebunk, ME) finished with 12 points and six rebounds on 5-6 shooting. Emily Duquette added ten points in the loss.

The Lady Rams take on non-conference opponent Wentworth Saturday at 1:00 in the first game of a Suffolk hoops double-header.