Nashua, NH - After dropping 3 straight games, the Raider of
Rivier College came away with a 14 point GNAC conference victory,
72-58, against Lasell College tonight. Sophomore
Amandra Purcell (Hudson, NH) came up huge for the
Raiders as she led all scorers with 25 points in the game.
The outburst of points couldn't have come at a better time as
Rivier leading scorer Jess Mellen (Rockland, MA)
has been hampered by a nagging hamstring injury over the past few
games.
Purcell came out on fire as she put in 6 points early to get the
Raiders going and her energy carried through on the defensive side
of the ball as it took just over four minutes for the Lasers to
score their first basket of the game. Purcell stayed hot as
she scored 8 more points in a 3 minutes span to keep the Raiders
ahead 16-9 with just over 12 minutes to go in the half. The
Lasers, however, would not go quietly when a few minutes later
freshman Reegan Brackett (Scarborough, ME) hit a three to bring the
lasers within 5 points. On the Lasers next possession,
Brittany Jefferies (Medford, MA) dropped in another 3 pointer to
see deficit cut to just 2 points. Purcell was not about let
her hard work slip away and continued her hot start by adding a 3
of her own to bring the lead back to 5 points with 8 minutes to go
in the half. Over the next 4 minutes as neither team
looked stellar, but Lasers forward Kim Archibald (Lewiston, ME) was
able to get 2 baskets to cut the Raider lead to 1. Raider
freshman Lauren Brett (Otisfield, ME) finally
decided to take matters into her own hands hit a 3 to bring the
lead to 4 and scored another 5 consecutive points as the Raiders
got out to a 10 point lead. On the next Lasell possession,
Archibald stopped the Raider run by making a lay-up to cut the lead
to 8. Purcell ended the first stanza with 19 points and after
a Monica White (Augusta, ME) 3 pointer near the
end of the half, the Raiders took a 36-26 lead into the locker
room.
Rivier started the second half by getting a defensive stop and
Raider forward Mackenzie Brooks (Colebrook, NH)
got to the line after driving to the hoop and hit both free
throws. After a Brackett lay-up for the Lasers, Lauren Brett
hit another 3 pointer for the Raiders to make it a 13 point
lead. On the next possession for the Raiders, Brooks hit
another lay-up to put the team up 15. Both teams would trade
baskets for the next couple of minutes until Lasell went on an 8-0
run to bring the Lasers to within 5. Monica White responded
for the Raiders as she went on an 8-2 run all by herself to extend
the lead to 11 with a score of 58-47 with just over 6 minutes to go
in the game. After another Purcell 3 pointer, Lasell's Tricia
Culver (Northampton, MA) made her own 3 point play to keep the
deficit at 11, but Brett hit a 3 pointer to stop whatever
momentum the Lasers were hoping to muster. Junior
Steph Adams (Nashua, NH) hit a nice baseline
jumper to make the score 69-54 with 2 minutes in the game.
Rivier closed the game out by hitting 3 of 4 free throws with a
final score of 72-58.
Amandra Purcell's 25 points led all scorers while Lauren Brett
dropped in 17 of her own and Monica White added 14 points.
Steph Adams pulled down a team high 10 rebounds while Mackenzie
Brooks added 12 points and 5 rebounds. Jess Mellen came off
the bench, bad hamstring and all, to give the Raiders 20 minutes of
solid play and came away with 7 rebounds. The Lasers
were led by Kim Archibald's 18 points while Reegan Bracket scored
10 in the GNAC set back.
The Raiders will travel to Boston, MA to take on Suffolk
University in another GNAC conference game on Saturday, January
30th, game time is slated for 2:00 PM. Meanwhile,
Lasell College will host St. Joseph College (CT) in Newton, MA at
1:00 PM on the same day.
