Women's Basketball's Season Comes to a Close with Loss Against Cadets

NEWTON, Mass. (2/18/17) – The Lasell women's basketball team concluded its 16-17 campaign with a 58-49 defeat against the Cadets of Norwich University in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action Saturday afternoon inside the Athletic Center.

Lasell was led by Brianna Hoffman (Milford, N.H.) and her 15 points, all scored off the bench. Morgan Church (New London, N.H.) ranked second on the squad, scoring 14 points with five rebounds. She also led the team with three steals, while Becca Fenton (East Hartford, N.H.) scored 11 points and handed out four assists.

Senior Heather LeBlanc (Sanford, Maine) led the Cadets with 22 points, and also added nine rebounds for Norwich, narrowly missing out on a double-double. Senior Leanne Winans (Hudson, N.H.) poured home a career-high 17 points, shooting 6-for-7 from the floor, while leading players from both teams with 13 rebounds. Junior Shyann Josler (Thetford Center, Vt.) handed out six of her team's 15 assists.

Down by one point with 2:23 to go in the first half, the Cadets rattled off six-straight points to capture a 10-5 lead through the first 10 minutes. The catalyst for the late Norwich run was a three-point basket from Mercer to propel her team into the lead. Winans would make a layup and wrap up the three-point play with 21 seconds left in the stanza.

Norwich continued the scoring run in the second quarter, extending the streak to 12-straight points as LeBlanc scored six of her team's points to create a 16-5 lead with 7:26 left in the first half. Mercer bombed another three later in the period and the Cadets would produce a five-point scoring run, taking a 14-point lead with 1:01 to go, 28-14.

Lasell outscored the Cadets in the third quarter by a 14-11 margin, reducing the Norwich lead to nine points, 39-30. The Lasers scored the first eight points of the quarter, but the Cadets closed the stanza with six-straight points, capped with a LeBlanc layup set up off of a Mercer takeaway.

Mercer added a three-point basket early in the fourth quarter, establishing an 11-point lead for Norwich with just under eight minutes to go. The Cadets also held off a late rally by the hosts, who cut their deficit to only six points with 31 seconds left in regulation time.