THE BASICS 

LaFrance Hospitality Tournament @ Mass.-Dartmouth

Score: Emerson 67, Westfield State 63

Records: Emerson Lions (2-4) ; Westfield State Owls (0-4)

Location: Dartmouth, Mass. (Tripp Athletic Center)

Date: November 16, 2021

The Lead: Sophomore Ava Salti and junior Chelsea Gibbons dropped 15 points apiece for the Emerson women's basketball team as the Lions were able to hold on to a 67-63 victory over Westfield State in the first day of the LaFrance Hospitality Tournament at Mass.-Dartmouth on Friday night. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS 

EMERSON 

Gibbons: 15 points
Salti: 15 points 
Olivia Deslauriers: 13 points
Katie Beckmann: 11 rebounds & three steals
Annika Herbert: four assists

WESTFIELD STATE 

Melissa Gray: 18 points & 11 rebounds
Alison Mendel: 13 points
Jenn Rennich: four steals
Olivia Hadla: three assists

HOW IT HAPPENED 

• After several lead changes opened the first frame, Emerson jumped out in front to a seven-point edge behind a 9-0 run that started and began with Gibbons' buckets from the perimeter for the 13-6 lead at the 4:16 mark.
• Emerson held Westfield to 10 points through the final four minutes while the Lions tallied 11 and came out of the first with an eight-point advantage at 24-16 going into the second. 
• Deslauriers began the second with a trey at 9:31 that was followed by over two minutes of neither team seeing a basket fall through, until junior Carla Pelino broke the scoreless streak at 7:28 with a layup at 7:28 to put Emerson up 12, their largest lead of the game. 
• The Lions were able to maintain a double-figure advantage over the Owls past the midway point of the second quarter. At 4:55, Westfield State began to claw their way into Emerson's lead and used a 9-0 run to pull within two at 32-30. 
• Freshman Mackenzie Bruno helped give the Lions some breathing room with the next three points with the score now at 36-30. A late layup and three-point basket by Westfield State gave the Owls one last push in the half with the score at a tight 36-35 in Emerson's favor. 
• For the first time since the opening quarter, the Owls held a lead over the Lions thanks to back-to-back layups that put Westfield State up three at 39-36. After Deslauriers converted both free throws at 9:06, the game once again went scoreless for the next 3:40. 
• The scoreless streak was broken at the 5:37 mark on a shot from Jordyn Lummus that kept Westfield's lead up at three at 41-38. After Westfield upped their lead to four at 4:21, Emerson used the remaining 3:54 of the third to piece together a 12-0 run that put them back in front, 52-44. 
• Westfield was not out of it yet and registered an early 7-0 run that put the Owls right back within one at 52-51 at the 7:54 mark of the fourth. 
• Despite holding a lead of at least six over Westfield, the Owls managed to once again erase Emerson's lead late into the fourth. A three-point bucket from Gray at 1:33 pushed Westfield back within three at 64-61.
• Emerson locked the game down at the charity line in the final seconds of regulation to hold on to the 67-63 victory.