NETWON, Mass. – Senior guard Meghan Kirwan (Melrose, Mass.) scored a season-high 24 points on 10-13 shooting from the field to lead the Emmanuel College women's basketball team past Lasell College, 66-56, Saturday afternoon on the Lasell College campus. With the victory, the Saints improve to 7-3 on the year and open their Great Northeast Athletic Conference slate with a 1-0 mark while the loss drops the Lasers to 0-11 and 0-1.

Lasell played the Saints very tough in the opening stanza, opening the game on an 8-3 spurt capped by a layup by junior forward Kim Arcchibald (Lewiston, Maine) to take a five point lead with 12:54 remaining in the half. Emmanuel would answer with a 10-2 run of its own fueled by four points from Kirwan to take a 13-10 lead with 8:53 to play. Over the next three minutes of action, the Saints would appear to take control of the game, going on an 11-2 run, capped by a three by senior guard Breanna Ockimey (Philadelphia, Pa.) to give the visitors a comfortable 24-12 advantage with 5:40 left in the opening frame. Lasell made sure the game stayed within reach, closing out the first half on a 14-3 rant as freshman guard Justine Ryan (Norwood, Mass.) helped cut down the deficit with a pair of three-pointers in the run to make it a 27-26 game in favor of the Saints heading into the halftime intermission.

A pair of free throws by freshman guard Alexis Chappell (Springfield, Mass.) to open the second half pulled the Lasers ahead at 28-27 to give the hosts their first lead of the contest since the 10:30 mark of the first half, but it was short lived as Emmanuel rattled off the next five points on back-to-back hoops to pull ahead with 17:54 left in the game. Ockimey put the Saints ahead for good with a three before sophomore forward Liz Daley (Sharon, Mass.) converted a layup to make it 32-28.

With 14:08 remaining in the game, Arcchibald would sink one of two free throws to pull the Lasers to within two points at 36-34 but it was the closest the hosts would come as Emmanuel was able to hold on for the win.

Lasell would go down fighting as the Saints were able to take a 10 point lead (48-38) following a Kirwan layup with 10:20 left but the Lasers responded with a 6-0 spurt to pull within two possessions at 48-44 with just over eight minutes to play.  The Saints would stay in control of the action but Lasell continued to hang around, never trailing by more than eight points throughout the final five minutes of play. A layup by Archibald with 2:25 left in regulation would pull the Lasers to within two hoops yet again at 58-54, but the Saints would close out the game on an 8-2 run to seal the 66-56 GNAC win.

Kirwan finished the game just two rebounds shy of a double-double with her 24 points and eight boards while Ockimey chipped in with 13 points in the win. Junior forward Fiona O'Dwyer (Stamford, Conn.) also played well for the Saints notching 10 points to go along with nine rebounds.

Arcchibald ended the afternoon with a team-high 19 points on 9-13 shooting while senior guard Jo Bishop (So. Burlington, V.T.) contributed 13 points. Freshman forward Danielle Autencio (Montville, Conn.) was strong for the Lasers on the glass, grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds.

Emmanuel will return to action tomorrow afternoon when they head to Brunswick, Maine to face Bowdoin College at 1:00 pm in a non-conference matchup while the Lasers are idle until Tuesday when they host Saint Joseph's (ME) at 6:00 pm.