SALEM, MA – Defending New England Collegiate Conference Champion Lesley University dropped to 0-2 to start its season with a 63-35 loss to Salem State at the Vikings Tip-Off Invitational.
Lesley's Brianne Caira (Pelham, NH/Pelham) led all players with 15 points and two blocks, chipping in with a team-high nine rebounds. A game after scoring her 1,000th career point, fellow senior Kaitlyn Wechsler (Merrick, NY/Our Lady Mercy) was held to seven points before fouling out with two minutes remaining.
The host Vikings (1-0) wasted no time extending their early lead. After a Wechsler jumper tied the contest 2-2, a 14-2 run featuring three-point field goals from four different Vikings and five points from Tara Driscoll burst open an 18-4 lead inside the 11:00 mark. A late Caira layup cut the deficit to 10 with 1:19 remaining, but Madeline Park's second three-pointer of the half put the Vikings ahead 32-19 at the half.
As they were in Lesley's season-opening 66-36 loss to Emmanuel in which the Lynx gave up the ball 44 times, turnovers were again a theme, as Lesley turned over the ball 14 times in the first half alone, giving the Lynx a 14-0 discrepancy in points off turnovers at halftime.
After hitting six three-pointers in the first, Salem State pick up where it left off in the second, as Amy Barry's second tray extended her team's lead to 16 at the 18:42 mark. Rachael O'Mara (Levittown, NY/General Douglas McArthur) answered with one of Lesley's two threes on the night to cut it back to 13 with 17:00 remaining, but 13 is as close as the Lynx would come.
For the game, the Lynx committed 29 turnovers to a manageable 13 for the Vikings. Salem State was the recipient of 24 bench points on the night, while Lesley's only points off the bench came on Danielle Nonamaker's (Pittsburg, NH/Pittsburg School) first collegiate points, a three-pointer at the 7:49 mark of the first.
Lesley will play either 2010 NCAA Tournament participant Bowdoin or Manhattanville tomorrow at 2:00 p.m.