BOSTON – A sluggish offensive output played a factor for Suffolk women's basketball, who suffered its first setback of the year, a 53-48 decision to its Boston Commons neighbor Emerson Saturday afternoon at Brown and Plofker Gym.  

THE BASCIS
SCORE: Suffolk 48 | Emerson 53
RECORDS: Suffolk (31-) | Emerson (3-1)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
In a back-and-forth beginning, Suffolk sat in front 6-4.  A scoreless four minute span by the Rams allowed the Lions to leap ahead by nine, 15-6. Six straight Suffolk points that featured back-to-back Arlenis Veloz buckets and one from Colby Guinta trimmed the gap to three with 22 seconds left in the opening quarter. Xxx closed the frame with a triple to send the blue-and-gold down six, 18-12. 

Both sides did not have large offensive outputs in the second stanza, but it was Emerson that had the upper hand, 8-4, to send Suffolk into the locker room down double digits, 26-16.  

That double figureremained for the majority of the third and extended to the opening minute in the fourth quarter. 

Down 16, 46-30, Suffolk started to comeback. Jordan Moreau and Olivia Verdile were the backbone of the Rams revival. Verdile connected on the blue-and-gold's first triple of the day with 4:41 remaining in regulation to trim the gap back to nine, 48-39. 

From there, the twosome combined for a 6-3 run to make it a 51-45 deficit at the 1:32 mark.  

Claire English converted a layup to extend the host advantage back to eight, 53-43, with just over one minute to play. 

Verdile sunk her second trey of the night to pull the Rams within five, 53-48, with 30 seconds to go.  

A Lions' turnover came nine seconds and gave Suffolk hope. Time was not in the blue-and-gold's favor however and the final buzzer sounded to seal the Suffolk setback.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Moreau paced Suffolk's offense with a 17-point performance behind a 5-for-10 connection rate from the field. She added six rebounds, two takeaways, one block and one assist. 
• Verdile contributed 10 points off the bench. She went 3-for-6 from the field that included a 2-for-5 effort from downtown to go along with three boards and one steal. 
• Guinta tallied 14 caroms, 13 on the defensive end. The junior also chipped in four points and two helpers. 
• Aislin Crowley contributed five rebounds and one dime. 
• Suffolk shots just 31.6 percent (18-57) from the field and 16.7 percent (3-18) from 3-point land. At the line, the Rams converted 50 percent (9-18). 
• Emerson held the edge on the glass, 44-43.  

WHAT'S NEXT?

Suffolk starts its home scheduled Wednesday, Nov. 20 when it welcomes Wheaton to Larry E. and Michael S. Smith Court.