(CAMBRIDGE, Mass.) – The Mitchell College Mariners opened New England Collegiate Conference women's basketball play in impressive fashion defeating Lesley University 84-36 Tuesday evening at the Buckingham, Browne, & Nichols  (BBN) gymnasium in Cambridge, Mass. With the victory the Mariners improve to 1-6 (1-0 NECC) while the Lynx fall to 1-5 (0-1 NECC).

Ari Dimou (Manchester, N.H.) paced the Lynx attack with 14 points to go along with eight rebounds while Sarah Apgar (Andover, N.J.) added eight points and six rebounds in 35 minutes of action.

Kaylee Cerruto (Torrington, Conn.) finished with a  game high 28 points, including 6 of 8 from long range, while Amanda Garcia (New Britain, Conn.) added 14 points and eight boards.  Kate Mulloy (Gardner, Mass.) and Suzie Barbosa (Orange, Conn.) also reached double figures in scoring finishing with 11 points each.

Mulloy drained a 3-pointer to open the game and Garcia followed with a mid-range jumper to give the Mariners an early 5-0 lead. The offense continued to hit from the floor for Mitchell as Cerruto's first of four first half three's extended their lead to 8-2.

A Grace Amato (Sharon, Vt.) lay-up and an Apgar jumper kept the deficit at six but Mitchell's offense was a running on all cyclinders as back-to-back three's by Cerruto, who would finish with 18 first half points, extended the lead to 22-6 before heading into the break up 41-14.

Jackie Ewing (Hong Kong) finished a lay-up and Dimou followed with a three to cut the lead to 25 early in the second half but , Mitchell again fired back, stretching their lead to as many as 49 en-route to their first victory of the season.

Mitchell finished 43.4 percent (36-83) from the floor including 9-16 from behind the arc to pace the offense, while Lesley shot 20.3 percent from the floor on the evening.

The Lynx return to action next when they take on NECC foe Bay Path College on Saturday at 2 pm at BBN. Mitchell will also continue NECC play this Saturday when they take on Daniel Webster College at 1 p.m. at home in New London, Conn.