CAMBRIDGE, MA --Last week saw a pair of individual records fall for both Lesley basketball teams, as women's center Brianne Caira and men's point guard John Sanchez set individual records at their respective positions.
On Wednesday, December 8, Caira set the school record with a 20-rebound performance in Lesley's 53-45 win at Newbury. Of her 20 rebounds, 15 came at the defensive end. Entering this week, Caira leads the New England Collegiate Conference with an amazing 9.1 defensive rebounds per game and is second in the league and 27th nationally with 11.6 rebounds per game.
One night later, in the Lynx 88-78 loss to UMass-Boston, Sanchez set the men's program's single-game assists record. His 12 dimes shattered Anthony Drayton's former program record of 10.
(Almost) Perfect 4.0: The number 4.0 is one tossed around this time of the semester to imply perfection, usually by one who's achieved a perfect grade point average in the classroom.
For Caira, 4.0 ranks her among the hardwood's elite, as in the best in the country.
Entering this week, Caira ranks second in the nation in blocks per game with 4.0, totaling 32 rejections in eight games. The 6-1 pivot leads the NECC, leads all players in New England and is second nationally to only Calvin (MI) College's Carissa Verkaik, who sits at 4.2 blocks per game.
Season for giving: Tis the season for giving, and Sanchez's teammates have been the recipients of their lead guard's generosity.
Sanchez leads the NECC in assists, averaging 7.0 helpers per game in Lesley's Division III contests, a figure that ranks him sixth nationally and tops in the New England region. The junior point man is second in the NECC in assist-to-turnover ratio, averaging an ecomonic 1.4 assists for every turnover.
Getting defensive: Lucia Robinson's team has turned its two best defensive outings of the season into a 2-0 start in NECC play. The Lynx held Newbury to 45 points, the fewest a Lesley opponent has scored all season, and held Elms to 48 in the team's three-point win over the Blazers on Saturday, the second fewest points scored by a Lesley opponent.
In Lesley's win over Newbury, the Lynx limited the Nighthawks to a mere 27.4 percent shooting, 13.3 percent (2-15) shooting from three-point range and only five assists, all season lows for LU opponents. Elms was then held to 2-10 shooting from distance and 27.9 percent overall. Both teams converted on only 17 field goals against the Lynx undermanned yet productive defensive unit.
In addition to Caira's defensive dominance of the paint, fellow senior Cassidy Freed has held her own ground inside. In five games, the senior forward has 10 blocks, good for 2.0 blocks per game.
ECAC Player of the Week: Sanchez was named Eastern College Athlete Conference (ECAC) Division III New England Player of the Week last week. Also named NECC Player of the Week, Sanchez's week saw him hit the game-winning free throw in the Lynx last-minute triumph over Curry and score a career-high 26 points at WIT. He broke a 74-74 tie with 15 seconds remaining in sinking the game-winning free throw in the Lynx victory over TCCC foe Curry.
Iron woman: Forward Kaitlyn Wechsler hasn't had a break in weeks.
Literally.
The 5-10 senior has played every minute of every game dating back to her team's pre-Thanksgiving contest at Colby-Sawyer on November 23, when she saw 37 minutes of action. In all four games since, the forward has played all 40 minutes, leaving her tops the NECC in averaging 39 minutes per game.
Caira is second in the league at 37.8 minutes a night.
Sharpshooters: Donald Morris' offense leads the NECC in three-point field goal percentage, cashing in at a rate of 38 percent. The Lynx offense boats the league's two most accurate shooters in freshman swingman Grant Cobb and Sanchez. Cobb is off to a scorching start to his career, hitting 11-19 threes for a 57.9 percent clip. Sanchez used a torrid three-game stretch last week in which he hit 8-13 (61.5 percent) from downtown to up his season rate to 48 percent.
Best offense = good defense?: While Robinson and Caira's Lynx posted their best defensive efforts of the season last week, the team also turned in its best offensive outputs.
Lesley's 51-point offensive effort at Elms is topped only by its 53 points at Newbury. In three games last week, the team turned in its best shooting games percentage-wise, hitting 8-17 (47.1 percent) from three-point range at Newbury and 38 percent from the field in Thursday's loss at UMass-Boston.
At 12 points per game, Wechsler leads the team and is tied for seventh in the NECC. Senior Rachael O'Mara, who leads the league in three-point shooting percentage at a robust 44.8 percent (13-29), is tied for 11th in the league at 10.5 points per game. Caira, meanwhile, is next at 10.3 points per game, which is 13th in the conference.
Loose balls: Senior forward Harold Smith led his team with a career-high 17 points on 6-13 shooting, also bringing in seven rebounds, last week against UMass-Boston ... In Lesley's 8-17 shooting night from three-point range in the team's win at Newbury, freshman Kacie St. Onge converted on 4-8 three-pointers ... With four steals against UMass-Boston, D'Elijah Dauphin set the high-water mark for his team thus far this season, and he did so in only 13 minutes. Fellow sophomore guard Nicholas Sparacino added 11 points in 12 minutes off the bench against the Beacons ... Sanchez tied for game-high honors with 24 points in Saturday's loss to No. 21 MIT in the first time Lesley has ever played host to a ranked team. Now 9-1, the Engineers are ranked No. 19 in this week's national poll ... On the women's side, freshman Samantha Olivieri recorded her first collegiate points, nailing a pair of threes in her team's win over Newbury. For the men, first-year guard John Stockton cracked the scoring column for the first time, burying a three-pointer in his first shot.