CAMBRIDGE, MASS. – Daniel Webster College junior Jillian Gilman (Weare, N.H.) and freshman Desiree McGee (Spring Hill, Fla.) both posted double-doubles to help propel the visiting Eagles past Lesley University 76-57 in New England Collegiate Conference Women's Basketball action tonight at the Nicholas Athletics Center.
Gilman had a monster night leading all players with 28 points and 17 rebounds while McGee followed with 15 points and 11 boards as the Eagles improved to 7-10 on the season and an even 5-5 in NECC play. The loss dropped the Lynx to 1-15 overall and 0-10 in the conference standings.
Lesley sophomore Theresa Pereira (Hopedale, Mass.) paced the attack for the hosts, pouring in a team-best 25 points to go with four rebounds and senior Anthea Rathjens (Sudbury, Mass.) posted her third career double-double with ten points while corralling a team-high 15 rebounds. Sophomore Courtney Goggin (Cheshire, Conn.) finished in double-figures for the second straight game, connecting on a couple treys on her way to ten points.
The Eagles, who led wire-to-wire, used a big first quarter where they outscored the Lynx 20-5 to post an early fifteen point edge. Gilman made her mark immediately as she registered six points and four boards in the opening quarter.
The Lynx started to chip away and quickly reduced the gap to ten in the second and used back-to-back three's from Pereira and Goggin to spark a 7-2 spurt to open the quarter. With 1:23 left in the half a pair of Goggin free throws followed by a made freebie from Rathjens one minute later would bring the Lynx to within six, 32-26, but DWC senior Ashley England (Old Town, Maine) would drain a buzzer-beating triple to push the visitors lead back to nine heading into the halftime.
After the break, DWC would extend their advantage back to double-digits using a 10-2 run capped by a Kayla Free (Quincy, Mass.) jumper and would build a lead as big as 24 in the fourth to cap their third straight victory.
England added nine points for the Eagles while sophomore Escarlin Reynoso (Lawrence, Mass.) came off the bench to post five points and seven assists.
Both teams were nearly equal from the floor on the night as the Lynx hit on 38% (20-of-52) of their attempts while the Eagles shot 37% (34-of-91), but DWC dominated down low as they held a 58-41 edge in rebounds and 56-14 advantage in points in the paint.
Both teams will return to NECC play on Saturday at 1:00p as the Lynx will travel to Southern Vermont College and the Eagles will play host to Regis College.