Women's Hoops Advances to NECC Semis with Win over Lesley

WESTON, Mass. - The Regis (Mass.) women's basketball team advanced to the New England Collegiate Conference semifinals for the sixth consecutive season on Tuesday night, defeating Lesley University by a final score of 95-33 in the conference quarterfinals at Higgins Court.

With the win, the Pride hits the 20-win plateau for also the sixth consecutive season, improving to 20-6 on the year. The season comes to an end for the Lynx, who finish the year with a record of 7-19.

The Pride controlled the game's tempo just about from the outset, and led the Lynx 17-7 after one quarter despite the team missing the first four shots of the game and hitting just 6-of-16 (37.5%) total in the quarter. The Pride was firing on all cylinders by the second quarter however, when the team hit 10-of-17 (58.8%) from the floor in the second quarter to jump out to a commanding 42-14 lead at the half. Pride junior Brittany Stone (West Bridgewater, Mass.) led all scorers in the opening 20 minutes with 12 points.

The second half was more of the same for the home side, who couldn't miss from the start. A Sam D'Angelo (Woburn, Mass.) three-pointer capped a 9-0 run for the Pride to open the third quarter and extended the Pride's lead to 51-14 just over three minutes into the period. D'Angelo's triple was one of four that the Pride hit on five attempts in the quarter, which ended with the Pride on top 68-23.

The Pride continued to rain threes in the fourth quarter to help seal the victory, hitting 5-of-7 (71.4%) from beyond the arc in the period. Junior Brandi Bonneau (Derry, N.H.) and sophomore Chayla Louro (Randolph, Mass.) each went 2-for-2 from three in the quarter to lead the Pride's offensive charge. Regis would go on to outscore the visiting Lynx 27-10 in the fourth to seal the big win.

Stone and Lesley junior Theresa Pereira (Hopedale, Mass.) each scored 16 points on the evening to pace all scorers, while Stone picked up the double-double with 10 boards (six offensive). D'Angelo finished just a bucket shy of matching Stone and Pereira, scoring 14 points on the evening. The Pride got scoring right down their lineup, as every player on the roster scored points in the win. The Regis bench had an impressive evening with 46 points, led by Bonneau's nine and eight from sophomore Maura Russell (Braintree, Mass.).

The Pride advance to take on #5 Wheelock in the semifinals, who defeated #4 Mitchell by a score of 69-56 in other NECC quarterfinal action Tuesday. The Pride and the Wildcats will tip off at 7:00 p.m. Thursday evening at Higgins Court to determine who advances to the NECC Championship.

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