CAMBRIDGE, MA – Lesley University improved to a perfect 10-0 in New England Collegiate Conference play and 11-7 overall with a 67-60 win over Becker College Thursday night in women's basketball play.
Reigning NECC Player of the Week Kaitlyn Wechsler (Merrick, NY/Our Lady Mercy) led all players with 24 points, her fifth straight game of 21 or more. Rachael O'Mara (Levittown, NY/General Douglas MacArthur) added with 18 points on and a team-high four assists, and Brianne Caira (Pelham, NH/Pelham) totaled 16 points and tied for game-high honors with nine rebounds and two blocks.
Chelsea Joubert (Westborough, MA/Assabet Valley) led Becker (4-13, 2-7) with 17 points on 3-5 shooting from three-point range, leading a feisty Hawks attack that converted of 5-11 (45.5 percent) from distance in nearly stealing a road win over the first-place Lynx.
Lesley jumped out to a 12-6 lead, with four players scoring in the first 5:00. Becker responded with a 14-3 run featuring four points each from Joubert and Tatiana Mojica (Worcester, MA/Doherty) to take a 20-18 lead at the 8:36 mark of the first half.
A pair of O'Mara free throws at the 7:00 mark put the Lynx back on top 22-20 as part of a 14-0 late first half run that put the home team on top for good. Seniors Wechsler, O'Mara and Caira all totaled 10 points through halftime, when Lesley led 36-33 after allowing five straight Hawks points to close the half.
Wechsler scored six points in a two-minute span to open the half, and a pair of Caira free throws the Lynx back on top by double-digits, 44-33, at the 16:00 mark. Lesley took a lead of 10 or more inside the 5:00 mark, when it struggled to put the spirited Hawks to rest.
Three straight Becker layups in a 50-second span, capped by a Joubert lay-in at the 3:08 mark, made it a 62-57 game. Trailing by four, a Nicole Morse (Alton, NH/New Hampton) layup cut the margin to a manageable 64-60 deficit with under 90 seconds to play.
Lesley's Emily Fleming (Somerville, MA/Somerville) went 1-2 at the line, but Mojica missed her chance to make it a single-possession game when her layup fell short, and a pair of Wechsler free throws capped Lesley's ninth straight win, 67-60.
Joubert and the Hawks hot hands kept them in the game until the end, as Becker shot 42 percent (22-52) from the field, 45.5 percent (5-11) from downtown and 92 percent (11-12) from the charity stripe.
Lesley matched the Hawks effort from the field with a nearly identical 42.6 percent (23-54), hitting its only two triples and hitting 19-25 (76 percent) from the line.
Led by Caira's nine and another nine from Cassidy Freed (Brattleboro, VT/Brattleboro Union), the Lynx out rebounded Becker 35-29.
Tied with Daniel Webster for first place at 10-0 in NECC play, Lesley travels to Southern Vermont on Saturday, when Becker visits Bay Path.
Newspaper Box Score
Becker vs Lesley University
02/03/11 8:15 p.m. at Cambridge, MA
At Cambridge, MA
LESLEY UNIVERSITY 67, BECKER 60
BECKER (4-13 (2-7 NECC))
Chelsea Joubert 7-12 0-0 17; Tatiana Mojica 3-12 6-6 12; Nicole Morse 2-4
4-4 8; Heidi Miller 4-9 0-0 8; Haley Ooms 2-4 1-2 6; Kristina Desnoyers 2-4
0-0 5; Shaylynn Nazario 1-3 0-0 2; Jacqueline Chila 1-1 0-0 2; Kelsey
McNeely 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 22-52 11-12 60.
LESLEY UNIVERSITY (11-7 (10-0 NECC))
Kaitlyn Wechsler 8-17 8-8 24; Rachael O'Mara 5-10 7-8 18; Brianne Caira 7-20
2-2 16; Emily Fleming 3-5 1-3 8; Cassidy Freed 0-1 1-2 1; Jennie Vallesio
0-0 0-0 0; Samantha Olivieri 0-0 0-2 0; Jenna Fralick 0-1 0-0 0; Erika Hill
0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-54 19-25 67.
Becker........................ 33 27 - 60
Lesley University............. 36 31 - 67
3-point goals--Becker 5-11 (Chelsea Joubert 3-5; Haley Ooms 1-3; Kristina
Desnoyers 1-2; Shaylynn Nazario 0-1), Lesley University 2-2 (Emily Fleming
1-1; Rachael O'Mara 1-1). Fouled out--Becker-None, Lesley University-None.
Rebounds--Becker 29 (Kristina Desnoyers 6), Lesley University 35 (Brianne
Caira 9; Cassidy Freed 9). Assists--Becker 16 (Haley Ooms 5), Lesley
University 15 (Rachael O'Mara 4). Total fouls--Becker 18, Lesley University
13. Technical fouls--Becker-Tatiana Mojica, Lesley University-None. A-71
