Emerson College Women's Basketball endured a tough loss to Springfield College 61-50 this Saturday afternoon, but put up a  fiery effort on the court for the entire game.  The loss ties the lady lions with MIT for sixth place in NEWMAC conference play while Springfield climbs to the first place tied with Babson College.  Emerson heads into their next game with a (5-7, 11-10) record trailing Springfield's (11-2, 16-6) record.

The Lady Lions rallied together from the start of the game, challenging the Springfield Pride to a heated match. Catherine Cloutier fired up the team with a winning tip off to Janissa Delzo.   The Pride stayed patient and opened their own game with a three point shot by Jaimie Bickelhaupt, which was matched less than thirty seconds later by senior forward Catherine Cloutier dropping in a rhythm three for Emerson.  While Springfield racked up another seven points in the following six minutes, sophomore Elizabeth Horan entered the game igniting the court and crowd with a step back three point swish. Horan totaled 9 points, hitting three 3-point shots on the game, knocking them down when it counted most.  The half ended with the Pride ahead 19-16.

Kristin Brice started the second half of the game with an up and over layup inching the Lions closer to the Pride.  Brice was the high scorer for the game getting 16 points in all.  Recognizing the work down low, Springfield doubled down on the Lion's posts causing shots to roll off the rim and quickly took advantage.  The Pride managed 21 rebounds in the second half, 39 on the game allowing plenty of time for second chance shots.  Both teams went back and forth, launching up shots while Emerson held on by a 3 point deficit for the majority of the second half.  The Lions kept fighting and adjusted to the Pride's defense, handling the ball well on the arc going 45.5% on three's in the half.  Freshman Eastin Ashby had 10 points on the game, 9 points off of three point shots.  With an immense effort by the Lady Lions, foul trouble caught up with Emerson and Springfield went on a run pulling away.  The game ended 61-50 in the Pride's favor, but the entire gym felt the energy put forth by Emerson.  

The Lions play next game will be at WPI on Wednesday February 11th at 8:00pm.