CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Lesley University women's basketball team dropped the season series to Becker College falling 56-40 in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action, Saturday afternoon. First year forward Dakota Jones (Torrance, Calif.) had a monster game in front court, ripping down a career single-game high 21 rebounds.
The Hawks improve to 10-9 on the season and 10-3 in conference play while the Lynx fall to 7-14 and 5-9 in NECC action. The Lynx will be back in action on Wednesday February 8th when they travel to Chicopee, Mass of a 6:00 p.m. tilt against Elms College.
Lesley came out of the gate strong. Midway through the first period, senior guard Hannah Levensailor (Ayer, Mass.) found first year guard Linda Wallentine (Monroe Township, N.J.) at the perimeter for a trey to give the Lynx the 7-3 lead. However, Becker first year guard Cassidy Harrison (Foxborough, Mass.) answered with a three-pointer of her own to pull the Hawks to within one point, 7-6, but it was short-lived. Wallentine put the Lynx back on top by three, 9-6, with mid-range jumper.
Trailing by three, 10-7, with a minute left in the quarter, Hawks' first year forward Sarah Ware (Oakham, Mass.) knocked down a pair from the charity stripe to cut the deficit to one, 10-9, for the fourth time in the period. But Wallentine came through once again, draining a free throw to give the Lynx the two-point cushion to end the first quarter, 11-9.
The two teams reversed the score in the second quarter with the Hawks edging out the Lynx, 11-9. With just over three and half minutes, Lesley junior guard Theresa Pereira (Hopedale, Mass.) knocked down one of two from the charity stripe to extend their lead to four, 19-15, but the Hawks began to make their move. First year guard Kelsey Maynard (Millville, Mass.) ignited a 5-1 Hawk run to end the half as the two teams went into the locker room with the score knotted up at 20-20.
When the teams returned to the hard-court at the beginning of the second half, the Hawks appeared to have a renewed sense of energy. Sophomore forward Adrianna Dowdy (East Haven, Conn.) dominated the low-post, tallying eight points and five rebounds as the Hawks outscored the Lynx, 14-5, to take a 34-25 lead into the final quarter.
The Lynx made a valiant comeback attempt in the fourth quarter. Trailing by double figures, 42-32, with 6:13 left on the clock, Pereira drained a long-range trey to ignite a mini 4-0 run to cut the deficit to two scores, 42-36. But it was as close as the they got.
Dowdy continued to show her front-court authority, adding 11 points in the fourth quarter to finish with game-high 23 points while pulling down 12 rebounds and dishing out four assists. Harrison followed up with 11 points while first year forward Micaela Rice (Charlton, Mass.) rounded out the trio of Hawks in double-figures with 10 points.
Pereira led two Lynx in double-figures netting a team-high 14 points – 12 from beyond the arc – while Wallentine reached double digits for the 12th time this season, tallying 11 points. Jones came two points shy of a double-double, netting eight points to go along with her 21 rebounds.