Issue date: 2/27/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Ben Paulin

The Suffolk Lady Rams basketball team picked up where they left off the regular season last night, defeating the Rivier College Raiders, 72-56, in the quarterfinals of the Great Northeast Conference Tournament.
Junior Meghan Tracey scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds, while senior co-captain Stephanie Morrissey added 15 points of her own for the Lady Rams. Fellow co-captain Katlyn Klecha ripped down 11 rebounds and added four points, while senior Katie Castignetti contributed 13 points and seven rebounds.
For the Raiders, sophomore Jessica Mellen led all scorers with 16 points, and also grabbed seven rebounds. Sophomore Blair Carpenter poured in 15 points, including three three-pointers, while junior Justine Nims tossed in 14 points of her own.
Both teams struggled to find rhythm early in the game, as they combined for nine turnovers and two fouls within the game's first five minutes.
When the scoring began, the teams matched each other basket for basket, as neither could establish a lead bigger than nine in the game's first half. The game was tied on five separate occasions during the first 10 minutes of play.
However, at the end of the first half both teams would go on scoring runs. Sparked by a three-pointer by freshman Christie Iwanicki the Lady Rams went on a 10-1 run over a five minute span, and opened up a 29-20 lead over the Raiders with 2:45 to go in the first half.
The Raiders, however, responded with a 10-1 run of their own to end the half. During the run, Rivier got points from 5 different players, and just as they had been when the half began, the teams entered the locker rooms tied up, with the score standing at 30-30 after the first 20 minutes of action.
As they have all season, the Lady Rams came out of the locker room on fire, and used another one of their trademark runs to establish a lead that they would not relinquish. Over the first five minutes of the second frame, the Lady Rams went on a 12-1 run, forcing two Rivier turnovers and keeping them from hitting a shot from the field during that span.
After a full timeout, Carpenter hit a three-pointer for the Raiders to cut the deficit to nine, but that was as close as Rivier would get for the rest of the game.
While shooting 51.4% from the field, the Lady Rams would lead by as many as 23 points in the second half en route to the 16-point final margin of victory.
The Lady Rams' staunch defense held the Raiders to a 32.8% field goal percentage, and a dismal 28% from beyond the arc. The team also forced the Raiders into 24 turnovers.
With the win, the second-seeded Lady Rams will face the third seed Norwich College Cadets on Friday, Feb. 29 at Emmanuel College's Jean Yawkey Center at 7:00 PM. The Cadets defeated the sixth-seeded St. Joseph's College of Maine Monks, 64-54, last night.
The Lady Rams defeated the Cadets in their only meeting this season, a 60-49 victory back on Jan. 26. The winner of this game will face the winner of the other semifinal match-up between Emmanuel College and Johnson & Wales University for the GNAC Championship on Saturday, Mar. 1.
The winner of the GNAC Tournament receives an automatic birth in the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championships.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools