Women's Hoops Prevails in Overtime at Newbury College

Boston, Mass (11/29/12) - The Lasell College women's basketball team earned their third win on the season, pulling out a 68-65 overtime victory over Newbury College on Thursday evening. The win improves Lasell to 3-2 on the season, while Newbury drops to 2-3 through their first five games.

Freshmen Molly Lauver (Cambridge, N.Y.) scored a career-high 19 points for the Lasers, who got 16 points and seven rebounds from classmate Talia Gabriel (Manchester, Conn.). Sophomore Danielle Autencio (Montville, Conn.) finished with a double-double scoring 13 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, while fellow sophomore Alexis Chappell (Springfield, Mass.) snared a team-high 11 rebounds to go with six points.

Catherine O'Connell (Quincy, Mass.) led the way for the Nighthawks with 19 points and 19 rebounds, Alex Pezzella (Rockland, Mass.) and Nephie Marsh (Brockton, Mass.) chipped in 14 and 10 points respectively.

Lasell caused seven more turnovers on the night and capitalized on an edge in bench points to help offset a 28-10 disadvantage in second chance points.

The Lasers held a five point edge at the half, 29-24 and stretched their lead to as much as 10 on two occasions in the second half, the last at 45-35 with 11:07 to play. Newbury answered with a 13-5 run, trimming the visitors lead to 50-48 with just under six minutes to play.

Autencio put Lasell ahead 57-54 with 2:11 to play, hitting a short jumper on a feed from Kayla Vincelette (Westport, Mass.). A layup by Katie Haney (Winchendon, Mass.) pulled the Nighthawks within one, but Molly Lauver's driving layup pushed the Lasell lead back to three with a minute to play.

Lasell forced an errant jumper by Nicole Silvia (Berkley, Mass.), that was rebounded by Gabriel who was fouled with 39 seconds remaining. After Gabriel missed the front end of a one-and-one, Newbury came up short on a game-tying three, but O'Connell pulled in the offensive rebound and finished the second chance basket to cut the Lasers lead to 59-58 with 25 seconds remaining. 

Lasell inbounded to Kim Archibald (Lewiston, Maine) who was fouled and made one of two at the line to take a 60-58 lead. After a timeout, Newbury was able to get the ball inside to O'Connell who converted the post chance to send the game into overtime.

The overtime period featured five lead changes, the last of which put Lasell ahead for good with a minute to play. Trailing 65-64 with 1:09 to play, Autencio stole a pass from Silvia and fed a cutting Gabriel to give Lasell a 66-65 lead.

Kayla Vincelette and Autencio each added a free throw over the final 20 seconds, and Lasell survived a pair of missed three pointers to earn the 68-65 road victory.

Newbury will host Pine Manor on Saturday December 1st, while Lasell will visit Framingham State on Saturday at 1 p.m. for a non-conference match-up.