NEWTON, Mass. - Senior forward Liz Brasa (East Hartford, Conn.) scored 10 points in the fourth quarter to help the Simmons College women's basketball team pull away for a 52-38 victory over host Lasell College in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest this evening in Newton, Mass. The Sharks improve to 5-7 overall, including 5-2 in league play, while the Lasers fall to 5-10 and 2-6.
Simmons committed a season-low 10 turnovers, while forcing the home team into 17 miscues that translated into a 24-2 scoring differential in points off turnovers. The Sharks also held Lasell to just 28.6% (14-49) shooting from the floor and owned a 42-33 rebounding advantage.
Brasa finished with 11 points and added eight rebounds and a block for Simmons. Sophomore guard Francesca Corsinetti (Johnston, R.I.) and senior backcourt mate Jamie Zoldy (Watertown, Conn.) each netted 12 points to lead three Sharks in double figures. Senior forward Ashley McAdams (Freeport, N.Y.) grabbed 10 rebounds and handed out five assists to go with seven points.
Juniors Brianna Hoffman (Milford, N.H.) and Morgan Church (New London, N.H.) paced the Lasers with 11 points apiece, while freshman Dana Ross (East Haven, Conn.) grabbed seven rebounds and sophomore Becca Fenton (East Hartford, Conn.) handed out four of Lasell's seven total assists.
The teams were tied at 30-30 entering the final period of play, but Simmons opened the fourth on a 12-0 run, including eight from Brasa, that spanned more than six minutes. The Sharks owned a 42-30 cushion, before Fenton broke the Lasell drought with a triple from the corner with 3:19 to play. Simmons later took its largest lead of the night following a pair of free throws from sophomore forward Lauren Brandau (Madison, Conn.) to make it 52-35 with 16 seconds left in the game.
Zoldy hit her first two shots of the game from three-point range as part of a 12-5 burst to open the game for the Sharks. Lasell sophomore Liz Bougie (Sanford, Maine) hit a tough layup in the paint with seven seconds left to bring the hosts within five at the end of one quarter.
Lasell turned the score around before halftime, holding a 13-5 scoring edge in the second quarter while shooting 5-of-16 from the field. Church brought Lasell within two with a layup with 3:29 left before halftime, then Hughey hit a three less than a minute later to lift Lasell by a 16-15 score. The Lasers took a three-point lead into halftime as Hoffman scored four straight points.
The teams traded baskets in the first half of the third quarter, but Hoffman scored a three and a layup in quick succession to give Lasell a 30-28 lead. McAdams laid in the game-tying basket for the visitors with 68 seconds to play in the third before the Sharks shot 9-of-14 from the field in a 22-point fourth quarter.
The Lasers return to action on Saturday, January 21 as they host the Wildcats of Johnson & Wales University in another GNAC contest at 1:00 p.m. The Sharks are also in conference action that day in Boston, hosting St. Joseph's College of Maine at 2:30 p.m.