THE BASICS 
Lesley University, 44 at Mt. Holyoke College, 45

Records: 
Lesley University Lynx (5-6, 1-1 NAC)
Mt. Holyoke College Lyons (1-9, 0-0 NEWMAC) 

Location: South Hadley, Mass. – Howard Gym

Date: Tuesday, December 10, 2024

THE LEAD –  As both sides played a back-and-forth fourth quarter, the Mt. Holyoke College Lyons completed a hard-fought comeback in a 45-44 win over the Lesley University women's basketball team. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The first quarter was all Lesley as the squad outscored Mt. Holyoke 16-3. After Lesley doubled up its lead (6-3) from an Abbie Price (Waco, Texas) free throw, the Lyons took a timeout to try and stop any Lesley momentum. However, coming out of the timeout, the Lynx outscored the Lyons 10-3 for the remainder of the quarter. During Lesley's burst of offense, five different Lynx scored to help give the squad a 13-point lead.
• Despite a high-scoring first, the second was much more of a defensive battle as both sides only combined for 15 points. Nearly halfway through the second (4:29), Lesley grabbed its largest lead of the night when Price knocked down a jumper for the 25-3 advantage. While Lesley was not able to score the rest of the quarter, the defense held firm and only allowed six points and took a 25-9 lead into halftime. 
• As the third quarter got underway, Mt. Holyoke's offense started to wake up as the hosts trimmed its deficit all the way down to eight (34-26) thanks to a 15-9 push, which led to a Lesley timeout. Cal McGonagle led the charge for Lyons as she chipped in eight points, including a made three. 
• Coming out of the break, Mt. Holyoke continued to chip away at Lesley's lead, and an Alex Twomey free throw with eight seconds left made it a 34-28 game going into the fourth.
• Early in the fourth, after Mconagle knocked down a jumper to make it a two-point game (34-32), Lesley gave itself some breathing room when Leila Chisholm (Santa Barbara, Calif.) made a driving layup and made it 36-32 with 6:41 left. 
• Mt. Holyoke continued to hang around and eventually tied things at 37 courtesy of a Twomey three-pointer. Still, Lesley responded with a basket of its own courtesy of an Ahidali DeHuelbes (Tucson, Ariz.) layup. Both sides continued to trade baskets as the quarter went on, and with the game tied at 41 with 2:21 left, DeHuelbes made a clutch three that gave the squad a 44-41 lead with under two minutes remaining (1:57).
• Despite the late three, the Lyons knocked down a jumper right away, and then McGonangle hit two crucial free throws with 1:07 left for Mt. Holyoke's first lead (45-44) since 7:14 in the first (3-2). From then on, the hosts played solid defense the rest of the way and held on for the eventual 45-44 win. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS  

• DeHuelbes led Lesley in scoring with a career-high 14 points on 5-9 shooting Tuesday night. She has now scored 10 or more points in four contests this year.
• Price was Lesley's other double-digit scorer with 13 points and she has now scored 10 or more points in two of her last three games.
• Bella Terry (El Cajon, Calif.) led the Lynx on the glass with 11 boards. Terry has grabbed 10 or more rebounds in five of her last seven games. 
• McGonagle finished with a double-double for Mt. Holyoke with a game-highs in points (18) and rebounds (15). Sofia Francisco and Twomey were the Lyons's other scorers in double figures with 10 apiece. 
• Lesley's 5-6 mark before the holiday break marks the best start for the squad since 2007, when the Lynx started 5-2 before the break. 

UP NEXT

• Lesley will have some much-deserved time off before resuming its season on Tuesday, January 7, at 5:30 p.m. with a North Atlantic Conference matchup at UMaine-Presque Isle.