The Lesley University women's basketball team captured the inaugural New England Collegiate Conference Championship a couple of weeks ago and their first ever conference championship in program history.  The Lynx established a winning formula early in the season and by sticking to those key basketball principles became a versatile and confident team. 

Head Coach Tom Fay believes that the success of this season is the product of the dedication put towards creating and implementing a defensive scheme that would shut down opposing offenses.  Three years of hard work later, Coach Fay and his players find themselves atop the NECC thanks in large part to allowing just 46.4 points per game and a defensive field goal percentage of 28.8%. 

Both of these categories reflect the defensive depth that the Lynx showed individually this season.  It with senior captain Lani Cabral-Pini (Wilmington, Mass.) and junior Jodi Fralick (Woburn, Mass.) who put defensive pressure on opposing point guards on every possession.  Kaitlyn Wechsler (Merrick, N.Y.) and Rachael O'Mara (Levittown, N.Y.) contained smaller players on the perimeter using their height advantage which caused complications for opposing offenses.  Brianne Caira (Pelham, N.H.) and Cassidy Freed (Brattleboro, Vt.) played shut down defense in the post.  Wing guards like Georgia Saltzman (Lynn, Mass.), Kelly Harrington (Toledo, Ohio) and Christina DiGiorgio (Lowell, Mass.) improved their perimeter defense over the course of the season.

An added bonus on the defense end was the versatility of six-foot junior Hailee Lowe (Hamilton, Mass.) who like Wechsler and O'Mara, had the ability to defend perimeter guards as well as strong post players.  Lowe, mostly known for her scoring ability as she led the Lynx with 16.1 points per game and field goal percentage of 51.1%, helped the Lynx maintain a defensive rhythm throughout games with her defensive capabilities.  Lowe earned First Team All-Conference honors for her efforts this season.

"I think this year our players understood and committed to the principles of defending the entire floor, defending for entire possessions, and owning the defensive boards," said Coach Fay.  "It is not something that comes from drills, it something that comes from within and they should be commended for making those aspects part of what they did on a day-to-day basis."

Wechsler and Cabral-Pini were also awarded All-Conference honors as Wechsler was named to the Second Team and Cabral-Pini to the Honorable Mention squad.  Wechsler was Lesley's second leading scorer with 12.5 points per game, but helped established the Lynx as the second-highest free throw shooting team in the conference as she hit 74.5% of her attempts from the line.  Cabral-Pini led the Lynx with 25 three-point attempts made and 64 steals.  The senior now holds the Lesley record for most career steals with 237. 

Lesley also discovered an offensive approach that worked best for the team as a whole by allowing each individual to play with confidence.  The Lynx led the league in field goal percentage (41.3%) and were second in free-throw percentage (69.0%) which speaks to that approach.  Although the team struggled with perimeter shooting, the Lynx continued to take shots and attack the basket which put the ball in the hands of their most effective players. 

With the 2008-2009 season behind them, the Lynx can now take time to appreciate what they have accomplished before they get back to work with the hopes of staying on top of the conference.  The next step is to add quality basketball players to the program who will embrace the formula that is proven to be effective.  The Lynx will look to take their defensive approach to a higher level next season, increase productivity off of transition as a reward for their hard work on the glass, be quicker to understand what type of offensive approach works best for the team, and improve the number of turnovers which was an area of weakness throughout the year. 

To learn more about the Lesley University women's basketball team, please visit their website.

Contact:          Rob Palardy
                        Sports Information Director
                        Lesley University
                        617.349.8627 (office)
                        617.349.8640 (fax)
                        rpalardy@lesley.edu