LEICESTER, Mass. -- The highest-scoring offense in the North Atlantic Conference continued to find the bottom of the net more often than its opponents Saturday afternoon, as the Lesley University Women's Basketball team defeated Becker, 71-62.
The North Atlantic Conference road win improved the Lynx to 5-2 overall and 2-0 in the NAC. Lesley has scored 71 points in three of its victories and totaled 93 and 80 in its other two wins.
Becker fell to 3-4 (0-1 NAC).
Sophomore forward Hailee Lowe (Hamilton, Mass.), the reigning NAC Womens' Player of the Week, had another monster game for the Lynx, totaling 20 points and eight rebounds on 9-of-15 shooting.
Senior guard Courtnie Leakeas (Lowell, Mass.) had 11 points and a game-high 16 rebounds. Freshman forward Kaitlyn Wechsler (Merrick, N.Y.) also had a double-digit scoring performance, going for 11 points, while also grabbing five boards and making two steals and a block.
Lesley did, however, trail 31-29 going into halftime, with the Hawks being paced by Kristin Karat's (Enfield, Conn.) game-high 25-point performance, Beth Pion's (Enfield, Conn.) 18-point, six-rebound effort, and Rachel Pinak's (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) 10-point, team-high 12-rebound game.
The Lynx came out of the locker room ready to play, though, quickly capturing the largest lead of the game for either team when a Jodi Fralick jumper (Woburn, Mass.) gave Lesley a 45-33 lead with 13 minutes to go and capped a 16-2 run to start the second half.
The Lynx maintained a double-digit advantage until three minutes to go, when Becker made its last comeback attempt. Powered by Pion, Karat, and Pinak, the Hawks cut their deficit to 65-61. But a Wechsler jump shot and a pair of free throws by Lani Cabral-Pini (Wilmington, Mass.) with under two minutes left put the game out of reach.
Fralick added eight points and four assists off the bench and junior forward Kelly Harrington (Toledo, Ohio) contributed eight points and three rebounds.
Lesley will finish out its pre-Christmas schedule with another NAC contest, hosting Wheelock at 8 p.m. on Thursday.
To learn more about the Lesley University women's basketball team, please visit their website.