CAMBRIDGE, MA -- In a week in which senior Kaitlyn Wechsler etched her name in Lesley lore from the free throw line, John Sanchez rode the charity stripe to an all-tournament team appearance and the championship game of the WNEC Golden Bears Men's Hoops Classic.
Wechsler Tuesday night became the fourth player in Lesley history to join the 1,000-point club with a pair of free throws at the 1:00 mark of the second half in Lesley's loss to Regis. She becomes the first player to surpass the 1,000-point milestone since Hailee Lowe joined the club last season. With 1,026 points after her team-high 18 point effort on Saturday against No. 22 Bowdoin, Wechsler stands 66 points behind Lowe for third place all-time at 1,092.
Tia Cleckley tops Lesley's all-time scoring list with 1,402 points.
Nobody spent more time at the free throw line last week than John Sanchez, who attempted 36 free throws, hitting 32, over three games on the week. The junior's 15 made free throws in Saturday's win over Western New England College were one short of a Lesley record, and he followed up that effort with an 11-12 showing at the stripe in Sunday's WNEC Golden Bears Men's Hoops Classic Championship against Trinity. For the week, Sanchez knocked down 88.9 percent of his attempts from the line.
Joseph Chatman set the Lesley single game record for free throws both made and attempted, hitting 16-17 from the line on December 17, 2007 against Becker.
Accompanying Sanchez on the All-Tournament Team at WNEC was senior Jesus Trejo. In the championship game, the center notched his first double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds. The double-double is his 21st career, a Lesley record.
Hot hands: Lesley's opponents have shot a blazing 41.8 percent from three-point range, but Donald Morris' team has been even hotter, hitting 42.6 percent from downtown. Freshman Grant Cobb has led the charge, hitting four of his first five threes to start his career. Sanchez is 4-9 so far on the season (.444) and Thorton Paul has hit three of his first five (.600) from distance.
Not afraid of rejection: Lucia Robinson's senior center Brianne Caira has at least tied for the game-high honors in blocked shots in all three of her team's games. Her seven blocks in the season opener against Emmanuel were a career high and three short of a Lynx record, which Loren Grady set against Bay Path on February 3, 2005. Forward Cassidy Freed, who finished third on the team in blocks with 16 as a junior last season, added three blocks against the Saints. Lesley's 10 blocks in the game were two short of a school record, which the Lynx have done twice, both times in February 2005.
Already the school record holder, Caira is 19 blocks short of 200 for her Lesley career.
Battling the best: In the program's first contest against a nationally-ranked opponent, Robinson's undermanned Lynx team did not fair so well. Bowdoin, ranked No. 18 in the D3hoops.com women's basketball preseason poll, scored the game's first 22 points en route to an 89-45 victory in which 12 Polar Bears players played 14 or more minutes.
For Lesley, which used only eight players, Wechsler scored a team-high 18 points on 7-14 shooting, playing all 40 minutes.
Looking ahead: Both Lesley teams are in action Tuesday night, with the men playing at Eastern Nazarene at 7:30 (live stats) and Robinson's women's team continuing its seven-game road trip at Colby-Sawyer at 7:00.