WESTON, Mass. — The Regis College women's basketball team captured its third-straight New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Championship with a 69-56 victory over Southern Vermont College Saturday afternoon.
The Pride stand at 22-5 overall and have earned the NECC's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. The Crimson and Gold find out their opponent on Monday afternoon when the NCAA Selection Show goes live at 2:30 p.m. on NCAA.com. The Mountaineers wrap up the historic year at 17-11 and await word on a possible ECAC Tournament bid next week.
Regis senior Emilee Marro (Bedford, New Hampshire) was named the NECC Tournament Most Valuable Player for the second-straight season and was joined on the All-Tournament Team by classmate Janaya Bradley (New Haven, Connecticut). Southern Vermont junior captain Amber Flagg (Windsor, Connecticut) and classmate Sarah McDonald (Cohoes, New York) were also named to the All-Tournament Team with Elms College's Denisha Parks (Fall River, Massachusetts) and Mitchell College's Jessica Shepherd (West Hartford, Connecticut) rounding out the selections.
The Pride jumped out to an early 6-3 advantage following a jumper from Marro, but Southern Vermont scored four-straight points to take its first lead of the game at 7-6 with 13:19 to play. Back-to-back buckets from Amanda Hawkesworth (Abington, Massachusetts) put Regis back in front, but a pair of Flagg free throws knotted the game at 10-all.
With the score tied 12-12, three-balls from Bradley and Alyssa Lanpher (Princeton, Massachusetts) gave the Pride an 18-12 lead as part of a 12-2 run that put the Pride in front 24-14. Flagg sandwiched deep triples around a Marro layup to cut the deficit to 28-20, but the Pride ended the half by scoring six of the final eight points to take a 34-22 lead into the break.
The senior duo of Bradley and Marro combined for 21 points in the period to lead Regis while Brittany Stone (West Bridgewater, Massachusetts) grabbed 15 boards. Flagg scored 13 points to lead SVC and junior Turquoia Johnson (Montgomery Village, Maryland) scored five points and grabbed six rebounds for the Mountaineers.
The Pride pushed their lead to 42-24 as Linsay Bumila (Raynham, Massachusetts) knocked down a jumper from the baseline. McDonald and Flagg combined for a 6-0 run to pull within 42-30, and another Flagg layup at the 12:52 mark cut the deficit to just 10 at 44-34. Regis built a 54-38 lead with 9:06 to play, but SVC continued to hang around as McDonald went one-for-two at the charity stripe to keep it a 10-point game with six minutes remaining.
SVC's Johnson scored inside to make it a 58-50 game with 3:47 remaining in the game. On the next Regis possession, the Pride worked the ball around trying to waste some time, and with the shot clock expiring, Bumila kicked out to Marro for a three that found nothing but the bottom of the net and pushed the Regis lead to 61-50. Johnson answered the next time down for the Mountaineers, and Flagg hit a free throw to stay within eight.
Regis regained possession and, following a miss, Marro kept the ball alive with an offensive rebound. RC worked the clock down again, this time as Mikayla Murphy (Attleboro, Massachusetts) drove baseline and dished out to Bradley who knocked down a three of her own to put Regis in front 64-53. McDonald would get it back to nine, but the Pride went four-for-five at the charity stripe down the stretch to hold on for the 69-56 win.
Southern Vermont was paced by 22 points, five rebounds, and four assists from Flagg. McDonald just missed a double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds, adding two blocks and two steals to her line. Johnson scored nine points and grabbed 12 boards in the effort.
Bradley finished the game with a team-high 20 points and three assists while Marro scored 16 points and added six rebounds and three steals. Hawkesworth scored 10 points to go with five rebounds, and Stone grabbed a game-high 18 rebounds to go with six points and three blocks. Bumila and Murphy combined for 14 points, six rebounds, and four assists off the bench.
The Pride won the rebounding battle 43-41 while committing 13 turnovers to SVC's 14. Regis shot 42.2 percent (27-64) in the game while the Mountaineers hit 21-of-61 shots (34.4 percent).