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Women's Hoops: Norwich Tops Lasell 54-47
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- Created on Sunday, 19 February 2012 02:02
- Written by George Commo
Cadets earn GNAC tournament bid
Courtesy Norwich Sports Information
NORTHFIELD – Behind a 54-47 win over Lasell in its regular season finale Saturday, Norwich University picked up the number eight seed in the 2012 Great Northeast Athletic Conference postseason tournament.
The Cadets, winners of four of their last six and sporting an 11-14 record, face off against 2012 GNAC regular season champion Emmanuel College of Boston, Mass., inside the Jean Yawkey Center on Emmanuel’s campus at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21. A rematch of a regular season game that was played Feb. 11 at the same site, it is one of four GNAC women’s basketball quarterfinal round contests.
Coach Mark Zacher’s program has reached the GNAC postseason tournament in each of its 11 years as a member of the conference. Last year, the Cadets were toppled by St. Joseph’s of Connecticut in the quarterfinals, while two seasons ago, Norwich appeared in the championship game.
The winner of Tuesday’s quarterfinal advances to one of two semifinals Thursday, Feb. 23, at a site and time to be determined against the winner of the four-five game between Mount Ida and Suffolk. The championship game is slated for Saturday, Feb. 25 with the highest seed as host at a time to be determined.
In Saturday's win the Cadets, moving to 11-14 overall and 6-7 in the league, posted 14 of the game’s first 21 points en route to a 24-17 halftime edge. NU got out of the gate fast in the second frame, too, with a 13-3 run to go up 37-20 with 9:28 to play.
The visiting Lasers (4-21, 3-10 GNAC) threatened their hosts’ lead down the stretch, moving to within five (46-41) with 1:08 to play. However, sophomore guard Tylita Butler (Lexington Park, Md.), topping off a strong afternoon, combined with freshman guard Aliah Curry (Windsor, Mass.) to hit seven-of-nine charity stripe tosses to close the game out.
Butler’s eight-point, seven-rebound, seven-assist day helped key the win. Curry tallied 16 points behind a 13-of-18 effort from the free throw line. Junior forward Jessalyn Sweeney (Stanfordville, N.Y.) narrowly missed another double-double tallying eight points and 12 rebounds. Freshman guard Kelsey Lotti (South Yarmouth, Mass.) canned three three-point baskets.
Coach Mark Zacher, his staff and the 2011-12 Cadets honored senior forward Jocelyn Fasulo (Contoocook, N.H.), senior forward Tara Stevenson (Watertown, Conn.) and senior forward Kelsey Knapp (Brandon, Vt.) prior to tip-off. Fasulo contributed eight points, seven rebounds and a pair of blocked shots, while Knapp, who earned a start, produced four rebounds.
NOTES – The Maroon and Gold closes the regular season with four wins in its last six games. … Sweeney, behind her 12-rebound game, saw her rebounds per game average move up two-tenths to 7.4 per game. Her average is up seven-tenths over the last four games (6.7-7.4) due to four straight double-figure board contests.
