No. 2 Lesley Tops No. 4 Women’s Basketball In 2009-10 NECC Championship

Box Score

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Elms College sophomore point guard Carolyn Talmadge (Wilbraham, Mass.) netted a team-high 12 points but No. 2 Lesley University received a 28-point effort from Hailee Lowe (Hamilton, Mass.) to help lift the Lynx to a 76-46 victory over the fourth-seeded Blazers in the Saturday afternoon’s championship game of the 2009-10 New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women’s basketball tournament.

With the loss, Elms concludes its season 12-16 overall, while Lesley wins its second straight NECC title and finishes its season 17-8 overall.

Lesley took control of the game early, sprinting to a 14-point, 18-4 lead at the 12:35 mark of the first period on the strength of 10 points by Lowe, six points from Georgia Saltzman (Lynn, Mass.) and two from Brianne Caira (Pelham, N.H.).

Elms surged back with an 11-1 run highlighted by five points from senior guard Annie Dunnack (Mansfield Center, Conn.), four points from senior forward Amanda Brogna (Oxford, Mass.) and a pair of free throws from Talmadge to pull the Blazers to within four at 19-15 with 7:32 to play in the frame.

The Lynx then scored eight of the next 10 points to extend the lead back to double digits before posting a 14-point, 33-19 advantage at halftime.

A jumper by Elms’ Christina Korney (Feeding Hills, Mass.) and a swish from beyond the arc by Talmadge sparked a 7-2 run by the Blazers to start the second stanza and cut the deficit to nine (35-26) with 16:39 to play in the contest.

Lesley responded by scoring 13 of the next 18 points, capped by a trey from Kaitlyn Wechsler (Merrick, N.Y.) to set the score 48-31 at the 11:41 mark.

From there, the Lynx maintained at least a 16-point cushion and with the score set at 61-41 with 5:15 to play, Lesley closed out the contest on a 15-5 run to seal its victory.

Freshman guard Jen Normandie (Westford, Mass.) finished in a tie for the game-high in rebounds with seven, while senior forward Erin Hutchinson (Groton, Mass.) and senior guard Jessica Jurkowski (Belchertown, Mass.) netted six points each in the loss.

Wechsler and Saltzman joined Lowe with double digit outputs, registering 14 and 13 points respectively, while Lowe and Caira each hauled in seven rebounds in the winning effort.

Lesley shot 50-percent from the floor and limited Elms to just 32.1-percent from the field.

NECC All-Tournament Team
Most Valuable Player: Hailee Lowe, Lesley University
Jodi Fralick, Lesley University
Annie Dunnack, Elms College
Carolyn Talmadge, Elms College
Vanessa Bosques, Daniel Webster College
Allison Peck, Mitchell College