NEWTON, Mass. (1/9/16) – The Lasell College women's basketball team fell to Emmanuel College81-54 in its Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) opener Saturday afternoon inside the Athletic Center Gym. The Lasers drop to 7-6 on the year and 0-1 in league play, while the Saints climb to 10-4 overall and remain undefeated in the GNAC at 2-0.

Senior guards Deanna Barrett (Berlin, Conn.) and Katie Stopera (Hollis, N.H.) led the Lasers with 16 and 11 points, respectively, while sophomore guard Morgan Church (New London, N.H.) grabbed a team-high seven rebounds, and contributed seven points in the effort.

For the Saints, freshman guard Olivia Dalphonse (Portland, Maine) poured in a game-high 20 points off the bench with six caroms. Dalphonse marked her career-high in scoring with 8-for-17 shooting from the floor to go along with 12 points from three-point range. Two starters from the Saints' lineup recorded double-digit numbers with senior guard Sarah Higgins (Groveland, Mass.) leading the duo with 18 points and eight boards. Junior forward Jen Chalk (Horseheads, N.Y.) rounded out the stat sheet with 10 points, while forward Lena Negri (Arlington, Va.) dominated the glass for a game-best 13 rebounds.

In the midst of an evenly matched first quarter, freshman forward Jaime Caron (Derry, N.H.) deadlocked the game at 11-11 with a good basket from the charity stripe. Sophomore forward Brianna Hoffman (Mildford, N.H.) added back to back jumpers to give Lasell a one-point edge on the Saints, however, the visitors responded with back-to-back treys to stay in control. The Saints carried an 8-0 run into the second quarter, where they slowly pulled away from the hosts, outscoring the Lasers 41-28 heading into the halftime break.

Using 45.5% shooting from the floor in the fourth quarter, the Saints continued to press offensively, scoring 25 points to Lasell's 11. Freshman guard Taylor VanLandschoot (Cape Coral, Fla.) sealed the deal for Emmanuel with a deep three-pointer in the final seconds of regulation en route to a final score of 81-54.

The Lasers held a 40.0% to 37.8% advantage on the floor, while the Saints led three-point scoring 31.8% to 16.7%. Emmanuel dominated the glass with 55 total rebounds and scored 32 points off second chance opportunities.

The Lasers will head to Anna Maria on Wednesday, January 13 to compete in the second half of a GNAC doubleheader at 7:00 p.m., while the Saints travel to Bowdoin College for a non-conference test on Tuesday, January 12 at 7:30 p.m.