The Suffolk University Women's Basketball team improved to a 19-5 mark on the year with a 74-49 victory over the Simmons College Sharks in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Women's Basketball action on Thursday night.
It was an all-around effort from the Rams as four players finished the evening with double digits in scoring as 10 Rams earned their way on the scoring sheet in the contest.
Sophomore Shelby Santini (Winchester, Mass.) paced the offense as she finished the evening with a team-high 14 points. Santini also grabbed five steals in the game as the Suffolk defense forced 25 Sharks' turnovers in the game which they translated into 29 points. Thursday night marked the 12th time this season the Rams have held an opponent under 50 points in a Suffolk victory.
Freshman Jen Janiak (Chelmsford, Mass.) finished the night with a team-high 14 points for the Sharks, highlighted by a 3-for-8 performance from beyond the arc.
The loss drops Simmons to a 4-17 record on the year, and 2-9 mark in GNAC play.
Junior Hannah May (Hamden, Conn.) chipped in with eight points on the night for Simmons, while freshman Nicole Alberghini (Northborough, Mass.) led all players with eight rebounds.
Each team finished the night even on the glass collecting 39 rebounds.
Prior to the game Suffolk honored their two senior members of the team, Jacqueline Vienneau (Salem, N.H.) and Lindsey Rogers (Gloucester, Mass.). The duo combined for 21 points on the night.
Vienneau finished the first half with eight points and five assists to help give the Rams a 35-21 edge heading into halftime. Vienneau finished the evening with 11 points and a team-high seven assists.
Rogers netted 10 points on the night as she was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line.
Junior Jennifer Ruys (Wallingford, Conn.) rounded out the scoring for Suffolk as she scored 11 points and had a team-high six rebounds.
Both teams will round out their regular seasons on Saturday afternoon with GNAC action.
Simmons will host Norwich University at 12:30pm.
Suffolk (10-1 GNAC) will travel to Emmanuel College (11-0 GNAC) for a 3:00pm showdown with the Saints in a winner take all regular season finale. The winner will have the top seed in the upcoming GNAC playoffs beginning on Tuesday.
Both teams also took part in the "Play 4 Kay" Pink-Zone Breast Cancer Awareness initiative as they donned pink warm-up shirts prior to the 7:00pm tip-off this evening. The event is in honor of the former North Carolina State Head Coach, Kay Yow, who battled courageously with the disease before passing away in 2009. GNAC Women's Basketball teams have hosted these events throughout the month of February in collaboration with the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA).