Quincy, Mass. – After a year away, the Daniel Webster College women's basketball team will get another crack at Lesley for the NECC championship, this time with the ultimate goal at stake.
Powered by a game-high 17 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals from junior Sarah Paternostro (Glastonbury, Conn.), the third-seeded Eagles shot 54-percent in the second half and pulled away from a close first half game to post a 72-48 victory over second-seed Mitchell College in the semifinals of the NECC tourney Friday night at the LaHue Physical Education Center on the campus of Eastern Nazarene College.
The Eagles (17-10) advanced to the NECC title game tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. to face the top seed and two-time defending champion Lynx (16-10), 63-51 winners over fifth-seeded Becker in the night's first semifinal matchup.
The title game will be the season's rubber match between the two and can be expected to be a tight one from end to end. DWC posted a 55-54 win on February 10th in Nashua, while Lesley returned the favor with a 62-49 win in the regular season finale on February 19th in Cambridge.
Alycia Gervais (Windham, Conn.) registered her 11th double-double of the season with 15 points and a game-high 14 rebounds for DWC, Vanessa Bosques (N.Windham, Conn.) chipped in with 11 points and seven boards and Tonisha Tate (Lynn, Mass.) notched 10 points.
For Mitchell (14-10), Alix O'Neil (New London, Conn.), led the way with 12 points and six rebounds while Jordan Ringwood (New Haven, Conn.) contributed with eight points.
Paternostro kicked off the scoring with a layup on the game's first possession and scored the Eagles' first five points. After two free throws from O'Neil, teammate Allison Peck (Colchester, Conn.) registered five points including her first three-pointer of the game, which gave the Mariners a 7-5 lead.
The two teams exchanged six lead changes in the first nine minutes before a steal and fast-break lay-in from Gervais resulted in the 10th and final lead change of the game as Daniel Webster pulled ahead 24-22 with 5:54 to go in the half.
A triple from guard Kacie Lang (Raymond, N.H.) gave the Eagles a 32-24 lead before a jumper by Ringwood cut the margin to 32-26 at break.
O'Neil nailed pair of jumpers to make it a 35-30 game at the 18:20 mark of the second but DWC answered with layups from Gervais and Alyssa Regan (Salem, N.H.) before a Bosques trey opened a 10-point game (40-30) with 16:00 to go.
Ringwood would hit three in row over a two minute stretch to keep the Mariners within striking distance, Tate grabbed her own miss and sent home a nifty off hand, off balance jumper from 10 feet and Lang followed with her second trey of the night while Mitchell missed five straight from the floor, all part of an 11-0 and 14-2 run that helped put the game out of reach.
O'Neil would end a nearly six-minute scoring drought for the Mariners for a 66-41 game with 6:08 left, but DWC pulled away over the final five minutes to seal it.
DWC would finish 40-percent from the field while Mitchell shot 34-percent. Ultimately, the Eagles won the game in the paint, doubling up the Mariners, 36-18 overall in scoring and 47-39 in rebounding despite Mitchell finished with a 17-13 advantage on the offensive glass.