Lesley Hands WBB First NECC Loss

NEW LONDON, Conn. - The Mitchell College women's basketball team suffered its first conference defeat of the season on Tuesday night, falling 91-64 to Lesley University at the Yarnall Athletic Center.

Four players finished in double figures for the Lynx, led by a game-high 21 points from Kaitlyn Wechsler. Senior Jennifer Iglesias paced the Mariners with a season-high 20 points and shot 6-for-8 from three-point range.

Lesley (3-7 overall, 2-1 NECC) scored the first 12 points of the contest and never trailed. Hailee Lowe accounted for five points during the stretch while Wechsler capped the run with a three-pointer with 17:17 remaining. The Mariners finally got on the board on a jumper by sophomore Destiney Harris, but Mitchell (2-6 overall, 2-1 NECC) couldn't get its offense going in the early stages of the game.

The Lynx led 29-12 with 8:05 to play in the half before the Mariners clawed back into the game from behind the arc. Freshman Kaylee Cerruto got things started with a trey to cut the deficit to 14, and following a Lesley bucket, Iglesias drained three-pointers on three straight possessions to cut the margin to seven with 5:33 to go.

Lesley withstood the 12-2 run and outscored Mitchell 15-3 over the final 5:21 of the stanza. Georgia Saltzman gave the Lynx their biggest lead with a jumper right before the halftime buzzer, and the Lesley took a 46-27 advantage into the intermission.

The Mariners never threatened in the second half as Lesley pumped the lead to as many as 40 points. The Lynx shot 54 percent from the floor-including 58 percent from long range-and held a 45-34 edge on the glass. Lowe finished with 18 points and a game-high 10 rebounds while Jodi Fralick and Cassidy Freed each chipped in with 11 points and combined to hand out 13 assists.

Mitchell shot just 34 percent from the floor but went 9-of-21 from long distance. Harris and sophomore Bianca Young joined Iglesias in double figures with 16 and 13 points, respectively.

Mitchell will next host Daniel Webster College on Saturday, January 16 at the Yarnall Athletic Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. Lesley will next play at Newbury College on Saturday at 2 p.m.