QUINCY, MA – Top seed Lesley University (16-10) advanced to the New England Collegiate Conference Championship for a third straight season with a 63-51 victory over No. 5 seed Becker College (11-15) in Friday night's NECC Semifinals game.
Reigning NECC Player of the Week Rachael O'Mara (Levittown, NY/General Douglas MacArthur) poured in 30-plus points for her third straight game, finishing with an even 30 on 12-18 shooting. Forward Kaitlyn Wechsler (Merrick, NY/Our Lady Mercy) finished with 20 points and eight rebounds while center Brianne Caira (Pelham, NH/Pelham) notched a double-double with 11 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
For Becker, Haley Ooms (Valatie, NY/Ichabod Crane) led the way with 18 points, and game-highs of eight assists and six steals. Tatianna Mojica (Worcester, MA/Doherty) added 13 points in the losing effort.
A Mojica layup gave Becker the early 2-0 lead, which was quickly answered by Caira, who responded with two consecutive layups of her own.
The two teams traded baskets for the first seven minutes featuring two more Mojica layups and Wechsler's first four points of the game. O'Mara got off to a 4-4 shooting clip after an impressive drop-step move put Lesley ahead 8-6 at the 14:30 mark. Wechsler and O'Mara followed that up with two more layups each and two Wechsler free throws put Lesley up 18-11 with 11:30 to go in the half.
After another layup by Mojica, O'Mara poured in a long jumper and a free throw to give the Lynx their biggest lead of the half by the score of 23-13 with 10 minutes to play. Ooms nearly single handedly got Becker back in the game with three straight layups to pull the Hawks within five at the 6:00 mark.
On the defensive end, Hawks reserve Nicole Morse (Alton, NH/New Hampton) provided a spark off the bench with three blocks, but O'Mara's 17 points on 7-11 first half shooting put the No. 1 seed Lynx into halftime leading 30-26.
Lesley raced off to quick start in the second with four quick strikes, two by Weschler and one each by Caira and O'Mara resulting in a 38-28 lead at the 15:20 mark. Ooms answered with a three-pointer to pull Becker within 48-43 with just over 6:00 to play, but late layups from Caira and Wechsler iced the 63-51 victory.
A game after tying the Lesley record with nine blocks, Cassidy Freed (Brattleboro, VT/Brattleboro) was the backbone of the defense all night long and finished with 12 rebounds, seven blocks, three steals, and added seven assists.
Lesley improves to 3-0 against Becker and advances to play the winner of No. 3 Daniel Webster and No. 2 Mitchell College in Saturday's 2 p.m. championship game. The Lynx went 1-1 against both the Eagles and the Mariners this season, handling Daniel Webster 62-49 last Saturday on Senior Night in Cambridge.
The winner of each of the NECC's prior to league tournament's the Lynx look to win a third straight, this time with an automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament at stake.
