SAINTS SINK SIMMONS ON SENIOR DAY

BOSTON, Mass. – The Emmanuel College women's basketball team cruised to a 92-54 victory over Simmons College Saturday afternoon in Great Northeast Athletic Conference action at the Jean Yawkey Center Gymnasium. The Saints improve to 18-6 overall and 9-1 in GNAC play while the loss drops the Sharks to 7-15 and 1-8 in the GNAC. 

Prior to the start of the contest the Emmanuel College athletic department honored seniors Devin Rauh (Collegeville, Pa.) and Sarah Higgins (Groveland, Mass.) in a brief Senior Day ceremony. Over their four years with the program, the duo has helped Emmanuel post an overall record of 79-31 and a regular season GNAC mark of 43-1.

Emmanuel opened the first quarter on a 21-2 run and never looked back. Higgins led the early charge with nine points during the flurry as the Saints forced the Sharks into nine turnovers in the first six minutes of the contest to set the defensive tone. The Simmons offense responded with an 8-2 spurt capped by a three by first year guard Francesca Corsinetti (Johnson, R.I.) to cut the lead to 23-10 but it would be the closest the Sharks would get for the remainder of the game as EC extended the lead to 32-12 by the end of the first quarter.

The Saints continued to build the lead in the second quarter, leading by as many as 28 following a three by rookie shooting guard Madison McLaughlin (Westerly, R.I.) that put EC on top 49-21. Simmons junior forward Ashley McAdams (Freeport, N.Y.) closed the scoring for the half with a layup up to make it a 49-23 game at the break.

Emmanuel shot 57.6% from the floor in the half compared to Simmons 36.4%.

EC started the third quarter with a 10-2 run to open the score up to 59-25 before the Sharks rattled off four straight points, capped by a three from the top of the key by senior guard Gracie Rolfe (Newton, Mass.) to make it 59-29. Simmons would keep the deficit around 30 points for the remainder of the quarter as Emmanuel took a 68-37 into the final frame.

Simmons was unable to mount a comeback in the final period as the Saints cruised to the 92-54 win.

Graduate student Lena Negri (Arlington, Va.) led all scorers with 19 points while Higgins added 18 points. Also in double-figures for Emmanuel were junior forwards Jen Chalk (Horseheads, N.Y.) and Alexis Ezell (Acworth, Ga.) with 10 points each.

Junior forward Liz Brasa (East Hartford, Conn.) scored 12 points to lead Simmons. McAdams finished with five points and a game-high eight rebounds.

The Saints are idle until next weekend when they close out the regular season on the road against Albertus Magnus College on Saturday, Feb. 20 with a 1:00 PM tip. The Sharks return to the court on Tuesday, Feb. 16 hosting Saint Joseph's College (ME) at 7:00 PM.