CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Newbury College women's basketball team earned their first win of the season tonight with a 69-45 decision over Lesley University in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action tonight at Buckingham, Browne, and Nichols. With the win, the Nighthawks improve to 1-6 overall and an even 1-1 in NECC play while the Lynx fall to 0-6 and 0-2 in the conference.
Sophomore Alex Pezzella (Rockland, Mass.) lead the Nighthawks with a game-high 20 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including connecting on 4-of-5 from downtown. Senior Katie Haney (Winchendon, Mass.) nearly finished with a double-double, dumping in 19 points to go with her nine boards for the visitors while Katelyn Roeser (Nashua, N.H.), Toni-Marie Migliore (Fall River, Mass.), and Brittany Beals (Lawrence, Mass.) each chipped in with six.
Junior Grace Amato (South Royalton, Vt.) led the Lynx with 14 points while senior guard Sarah Apgar (Andover, N.J.) finished with seven points and a game-high 11 caroms. Freshman Tara Coleman (Lanoka Harbor, N.J.) and sophomore Ari Dimou (Manchester, N.H.) finished with eight points apiece.
The Lynx led 11-10 following a Dimou layup with just under 12-minutes left in the first half, but the visitors took control of the game with a 25-4 run to take a commanding 35-15 edge. Pezzella and Haney led the charge scoring 11 and eight, respectively, during the streak. They each finished with thirteen in the opening half as Newbury went into the locker room with a 37-21 advantage.
The Nighthawks shot 36% (13-of-36) from the field in the opening twenty minutes while holding the Lynx to just 25% (7-of-28).
Newbury carried their momentum from the first half as they scored nine of the first 11 points to start the second half.
With just under ten minutes to go, three straight points from Roeser gave the Nighthawks their biggest lead of the night, 59-29, as they rolled to a 69-45 win.
The Nighthawks took advantage of the Lynx miscues throughout the night, as they converted 23 Lesley turnovers into 23 points while also holding a distinct 57-44 edge on the boards.
Newbury finished the game shooting 38% (25-of-66) from the field including knocking down 55.6% (5-of-9) from three-point range. The Lynx struggled from the floor, finishing with a 26.2% (16-of-61) while shooting a paltry 13.3% (2-of-15) from downtown.
With the win, the Nighthawks now lead the all-time series 8-7.
The Lynx will be back in action on Saturday when they travel to NECC foe Mitchell College for a 1:00p tip-off. The Nighthawks will also be back in NECC action on Saturday when they host Elms College at noon.