Women’s Basketball Bests Bridgewater State, 62-47

BOSTON – Nearly every Ram who took the Larry E. and Michael S. Smith Court Thursday night recorded at least two points to anchor a well-balanced 62-47 Suffolk women's basketball victory over Bridgewater State to wrap up first semester play.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 62 | Bridgewater State 47
RECORDS: Suffolk (7-3) | Bridgewater State (2-7)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
It was all Suffolk from the get go as the hosts grew a 7-4 early edge into a 16-6 lead after the first 10 minutes. Allie Lopes and Alexis Hackett each supplied two hoops in the first quarter for the Rams. The former had seven of the hosts points, while the latter accounted for five. 

Suffolk continued to build more of a distance in the second. After Bridgewater used a timeout at the midway point of the quartet, Suffolk scored seven straight points to push its advantage to 20, 32-12, with 1:19 left on the clock. The Bears ended a 4:31 minute scoreless stretch with 44 seconds to go in the half to cut the distance down to 17 at intermission. 

Jordan Hipwell hit the first four points out of the locker room to regain a 20-point distance for the blue-and-gold for the second time. The Bears battled back, though, and scored six straight of their own to cut the deficit down to 15, 36-21, at the 5:38 minute mark.  

Ed Leyden took a timeout to calm down his team, but the huddle proved to work in the visitors favor instead. Full court pressure, costly Suffolk turnovers, and an inside out game trimmed Suffolk's cushion to 43-30 at the end of the third frame.  

To begin the fourth, Natalie Fraioli got hot from downtown. For every trey the sophomore struck, Destiny Fitzgerald responded with a bunny to keep the Bears in the game. 

Suffolk clung to a double-digit distance the rest of the way, but again Bridgewater made things interesting as it pulled within 10, 57-47, with just under two minutes to go.  

The Rams took care of business over the final two minutes to hang on for the victory.  

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Fraioli, Hipwell and Lopes all notched 13 points and Hackett had 11 to anchor the well-balanced offense that saw Suffolk shoot 42.1 percent (24-57) from the floor, 40.0 percent (10-25) from behind-the-arc and 66.7 percent (4-6) from the free throw line. 
• Lopes was on the verge of a double-double effort with nine rebounds to her credit to go along with five helpers and one takeaway. 
• Fraioli produced an all-around outing with two boards, two dimes, two steals and one block to compliment her offensive output. 
• Hackett had seven caroms on the glass with four helpers, four swats and four steals. 
• Jenni-Rose DiCecco contributed five assists to the offense and had a game-high 10 caroms with two steals. 
• Emily Welling added a boost on both ends of the court with five points, five boards, three steals, one assist and one block. 
• The Bears outrebounded the Rams, 41-35.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk defeated Bridgewater State for the first time since 2001 and second time in program history to move to 2-4 all-time against the Bears. 
• Lopes registered a new career-high in rebounds (9) and matched a personal-best in assists (5) and treys made (3). 
• Fraioli made a career-high in three pointers made (2) and blocks (1). 
• Welling tallied a new personal-best three steals.  

POST-GAME PIC
  

WHAT'S AHEAD?
Suffolk takes close to a three-week break for finals and the holidays and returns to the hardwood Saturday, Jan. 4 when it treks to Albany, New York for a showdown at Sage. Tip-off in the Empire State is set for 1 p.m.