CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – A big second half carried Newbury College past Lesley University in New England Collegiate Conference action tonight at the Nicholas Athletics Center. The loss dips the Lynx to an even 1-1 mark in NECC play and 1-4 overall while the Nighthawks record their first win of the season to jump to 1-1 in the conference and 1-4 on the year.
Newbury junior Destiny Spears (Arnold, Md.) led the Nighthawks as she filled the box score with 21 points, 18 rebounds, five assists, four steals, and one block. Sophomore Christina Babcock (Ayer, Mass.) followed Spears with 20 points, 12 of which came from beyond the three-point arc, while classmate Savannah Olsen (Battle Creek, Mich.) dropped 14 points to go with six boards.
Junior Theresa Pereira (Hopedale, Mass.) paced the hosts with 18 points while freshman Linda Wallentine (Monroe Township, N.J.) came off the bench for 16 points, five assists, and a trio of rebounds. Fellow first year Kylie Lounder (Belchertown, Mass.) added five points and a team-high nine rebounds while classmate Dakota Jones (Torrance, Calif.) and sophomore Abby Henderson (Rochester, N.H.) each netted four points.
Newbury started hot out of the gates and built up a 16-5 lead over the first 5:39 of the opening quarter. Lesley would use the three-ball to pull themselves back to within single-digits as three's from Lounder, Wallentine, and Pereira powered an 11-5 run to dwindle the Nighthawks lead to five, 21-16, at the end of the quarter.
Late in the second, a 6-0 Lesley spurt capped by a Henderson layup gave the hosts their first lead since the early moments of the game34-33. Newbury answered and scored the final four points of the quarter and staked a 37-34 edge heading into halftime.
The two teams played even throughout the first five minutes of the third before the Nighthawks would build some separation and build a ten-point advantage with a 9-3 run to end the third and lead 55-45 to start the fourth.
The momentum kept rolling for Newbury as they started the fourth with a 10-1 run and never looked back, building a lead as big as 19 in the quarter, and picked up their first victory of the year. Newbury outscored Lesley 33-17 in the second half.
Both sides will be back in conference play on Saturday. Lesley will travel north to Southern Vermont College for a 1:00p tip while Newbury will open up their home slate and host Becker College at 1:00p.