WESTON, Mass. – Despite a tough battle by visiting Daniel Webster College, Regis College was able to grab a 73-56 win over the Eagles on Wednesday evening at Higgins Court in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's basketball action. The Pride won their 13th consecutive game to improve to 19-4 overall, 16-0 in league play. With the victory, the Pride also clinched the No. 1 seed in the upcoming NECC Tournament.
Daniel Webster jumped to an early 9-5 lead following an Ashley Giampetruzzi (Manchester, N.H.) jumper. The Pride quickly erased the deficit on a Claire Ramonas (Portland, Maine) jumper and a pair of free-throws from Emilee Marro (Bedford, N.H.), and later took a 17-9 lead after a three-pointer and free-throw from Marro. A Janaya Bradley (New Haven, Conn.) jumper gave the Pride their largest lead of the half at 26-16 with 8:26 to play.
The Eagles responded with a 10-0 run as Katherine Johnson (Manchester, N.H.) and Ashley England (Old Town, Maine) each scored five points during the stretch to tie the game at 26-all with just over five minutes to play. Ramonas connected on a layup to end the run, and Janaya Bradley buried a deep three to put Regis back on top by five at 31-26.
Natalie Nagle (Dolgeville, N.Y.) answered for the Eagles, but Emilee Marro sandwiched a pair of three-pointers around an Ariel Guzman (Yonkers, N.Y.) basket to push the Pride lead to 37-30, and Ramonas added a free-throw before the half to give Regis a 38-30 lead at the break.
Marro knocked down three triples and scored all of her 14 points of the night in the opening period. Janaya Bradley added 11 first half points, while Claire Ramonas had six points and six rebounds. Daniel Webster's Ashley England led the Eagles with 10 points in the first stanza, and Katherine Johnson came off the bench to score five points and grab six rebounds.
The Eagles opened up the first few minutes of the second half on a 10-4 run, capped by an Ashley England layup to cut the deficit to two points by the 16:28 mark. The Pride responded with a quick 8-0 run to extend the lead back to 10 points after a pair of buckets by Bradley and a basket each by sophomores Alyssa Vieira-Lanpher (Princeton, Mass.) and Michaela Maguire (Revere, Mass.).
DWC showed that they were not going down without a fight, as Kayla Free (Quincy, Mass.) hit a pair of three-pointers to go along with a good jumper by Johnson over the next three minutes, as the score stood at 53-48 by the 11:28 mark.
Just five minutes later, Regis had pushed the lead to as much as 18 points after some hot shooting by freshman forward Amanda Hawkesworth (Abington, Mass.), who finished with 10 points and five rebounds on the night. The Pride were able to hang on down the stretch for the 73-56 final score.
Daniel Webster (10-13, 8-8), who returns to action on Saturday with a 4 p.m. home game against Elms, had four players finish in double-figures, as England (15 points, 5 assists), Guzman (11 points), Giampetruzzi (10 points, 6 rebounds), and Johnson (10 points, 9 rebounds) led the Eagles in the losing effort.
Bradley would finish with 20 points to lead all scorers, while Ramonas (9 rebounds) and Vieira-Lanpher (5 assists) each had nine points for the Pride, who will head to Wheelock on Saturday for a 3 p.m. contest. Marro added eight rebounds to go along with her 14 points.