BROOKLINE, Mass. – The Newbury College women's basketball team defeated Becker College, 62-55, Saturday afternoon. Sophomore guard Katelyn Roeser (Nashua, N.H.) led four Nighthawks in double figures, netting a team-high 17 points en route to their fourth victory of the season.
It was a tight barn-burner in the first half. Roeser opened the game with a trey a minute into the contest to ignite 9-1 to start the game but the Hawks answered with an 8-0 run of their own to knot up the score at nine with 13:29 left. First year forward Toni-Marie Migliore (Fall River, Mass.) capped off a five-minute, 6-0 run to give the Nighthawks a 15-9 advantage. But Becker was not going to back down easily.
With less than four minutes remaining in the period, Becker senior guard Haley Ooms (Valatie, N.Y.) gave the Hawks their first lead of the game, 19-18. However the lead did not last for long as Newbury senior forward Claudia LeConte (Framingham, Mass.) answered with a lay-up and sparked a 9-3 run to take a five-point, 27-22 lead into halftime.
Four minutes into the start of the second period, sophomore guard Alex Pezzella (Rockland, Mass.) gave the Nighthawks an eight point, 36-28, lead with a lay-up but the Hawks answered. A minute later, Ooms sparked an 8-0 run knocking down one of two from the charity stripe to give the Nighthawks their first lead, 37-56, since late in the first half. However, Becker's lead was short lived.
Less than a minute later, Roeser ignited a fire under the Nighthawks, snatching an offensive rebound and launching a trey to re-gain the lead for the Nighthawks and spark a 9-0 run. During the stretch, which lasted just over a minute, first year guard Janetis Cardona (Southbridge, Mass.) picked the pocket of Karena Prescott (New Bedford, Mass.) and took it back down court for the fast-break lay-up. On the next possession, it was like déjà-vu, as Cardona recorded another steal, this time knocking the ball away from first year guardElizabeth McNiff (Leominster, Mass.) and converting the fast-break point.
With four minutes remaining in regulation, Migliore found Roeser at the perimeter for her third trey of the game to extend the Nighthawks to their largest lead of the game, 53-43. Although the Hawks kept battling back pulling back to within five points but they were unable to get any closer as the Nighthawks went onto the 62-55 victory.
Newbury climbs to 4-6 in the conference and 4-12 overall while Becker falls to 5-12 and 5-6 in NECC action. The Nighthawks return to the hard-court on Tuesday January 28th when they host Daniel Webster College at 6:00 p.m. looking to split the season series. The Hawks will also be in action on Tuesday evening, hosting NECC Bay Path College at 8:00 p.m.
Game Notes:
First year guard Janetis Cardona (Southbridge, Mass.) surpassed her career single-game high tallying 12 points – 10 coming in the second half.
