WESTON, Mass. – The no. 10 regionally-ranked Regis College women's basketball team earned their 20th win of the season with a 69-61 victory over New England Collegiate Conference opponent Elms College on Senior Day. The victory improved the Pride to 20-3, 16-0 NECC and the loss dropped the Blazers to 11-11, 10-5 NECC.
In a pregame ceremony, the women's basketball team honored their three seniors Taylor Bunkley (Carmel, N.Y.), Alyssa Lanpher (Princeton, Mass.) and Michaela Maguire (Revere, Mass.) for their contributions to the college and its athletic department.
The 20th win was the Pride's fifth straight season, third under Coach Santa Fe with 20 or more victories. Regis also locked up the number one seed in the NECC tournament, which earns the team a first round bye and the right to host the tourney.
With 5:39 left in the second quarter, Amanda Hawkesworth (Abington, Mass.) became the 16th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points. Hawkesworth cleaned up a missed layup from Sam D'Angelo (Woburn, Mass.) and put the rock up off the glass for the milestone points. Coach Santa Fe took a timeout and Hawkesworth's teammates immediately mobbed the senior captain as a way of celebrating her personal accomplishment.
Elms also had a 1,000 point scorer of their own when graduate guard J.C. Pickett (Chicopee, Mass.) took a pass from teammate Emily Burr (E. Hartford, Conn.) and made a layup from the post with 2:52 remaining in the third quarter.
The Blazers began the contest with a 7-2 run with a Burr three ball putting the guests up five with 4:39 left in the quarter. Regis then outscored Elms 11-5 over the final minutes with five points coming from Alyssa Lanpher off a three pointer and a driving layup. Regis headed into the second quarter up one 13-12. Two of the games three tied scores came within the first minute of the second quarter. A Pickett freebie knotted the score at 13 all and after a D'Angelo missed three, Pickett struck again with a layup to put the visitors up 15-13. Hawkesworth tied the score at 15 each on the Pride's next trip down the floor.
Regis used an 8-3 mini run to open up their largest lead of the first stanza with six points coming from Hawkesworth layups. A Mackenzie LaRochelle (Chicopee, Mass.) jumper and a shot from Heather Bailey (Williamstown, Vt.) brought the Pride lead back down to one. The squads kept exchanging points before a Brandi Bonneau (Derry, N.H.) jumper with five seconds left put the lead back up to five as the Crimson and Gold headed into the break, up 31-26.
Hawkesworth racked up 10 of her 19 points in the second quarter as she went 5-of-9 (55.5%) from the hardwood.
The hosts built their lead to nine twice in the third quarter with junior guard Mikayla Murphy (Attleboro, Mass.) knocking down a jumper off a screen and a Brittany Stone (West Bridgewater, Mass.) layup in the post a few minutes later to put the Crimson and Gold up 51-42 heading into the final stanza.
Stone closed out the game for the Pride as she tallied eight of her 18 total points in the last period. Stone was 3-of-4 from the field and grabbed three caroms. Regis built up their largest lead of the contest after Stone converted two shots from the charity stripe to put the hosts up 13, with 2:57 to play.
The Blazers scored the next six points with a free throw from Pickett, a layup from LaRochelle and a three ball from Burr to cut the Pride lead to seven, 65-58 with 57 seconds to go. Elms began to foul and went 1-of-4 (25%) from the floor to end the game as the Pride earned the hard fought victory.
The Pride outscored the guests 42-30 in the painted area, but the Blazer bench chalked up 18 points to Regis' 11.
Amanda Hawkesworth finished with a game-high 19 points and 12 rebounds good enough for her seventh double-double of the campaign. Stone was 8-of-11 (72.7%) from the field and snagged seven boards. Mikayla Murphy added 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists while Alyssa Lanpher finished in double figures with 10 points.
Emily Burr led the Blazer offensive attack with a team-high 15 points and three rebounds. J.C. Pickett had 10 points and six caroms before fouling out and Alexandra Marques (Newington, Conn.) finished with seven points and a team-best 11 boards.
Regis returns to the hardwood on Tuesday when they host conference opponent Lesley University at 6:00 p.m. in their final regular season home game of the campaign. Elms welcomes NECC foe Southern Vermont to campus on Tuesday for a 6:00 p.m. showdown.
