DARTMOUTH, Mass. -Â Trailing by two points with 1:17 remaining in regulation, 5th-year senior
Meagan Donovan drove and scored, and senior
Jordan Moretti dished it off to 5th-year
Lauren Empey for the game-winning bucket with 38 seconds to go. The Corsair defense then stepped up on the final possession as the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth women's basketball team defeated Western New England, 65-63, Friday night to open the LaFrance Hospitality Tournament.
Moretti led the Corsairs (4-1) with 16 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. Donovan put up 16 points as well off the bench with six boards, while Empey finished with 15 points and four rebounds.
Four players scored in double figures for the Golden Bears (1-3) led by senior Grace Fisher's 14 point, 12 rebound double-double.
WNE hit three quick triples and Fisher scored a pair of baskets in the paint to jump ahead to a 15-5 advantage after the first five minutes of the game. Moretti, Donovan and Empey willed the Corsairs back into the game, leading a 10-0 run, to even the score in the final minute of the first. The Golden Bears then sunk a 3-ball to take an 18-15 lead after the quarter.
The Golden Bears held a slim margin for most of the second. Baskets by sophomore
Teja Andrews, senior
Shaelyn Carreiro and Moretti eventually tied the game at 21 at the 6:25 mark, but a bucket in the paint a 3-pointer extended the WNE lead to 28-23. Donovan then stuck a three and Moretti hit a couple at the line to give the Corsairs a 33-32 halftime advantage.
The third was a defensive struggle as the Corsairs outscored the Golden Bears, 13-10. Neither side gained any ground until the end of the quarter when Donovan made a free throw and Empey blocked a shot on one end and sunk a jumper on the other to make it a 46-42 lead heading to the fourth.
UMass Dartmouth went up by five points in the opening minutes of the fourth, but WNE closed the gap and went on a 12-7 run to go ahead, 59-54 with 4:44 to play. Empey then banked home a wing three, Morreti and Empey scored down low, and Donovan drove to the bucket to even the score at 63 with 1:07 to go. Moretti then drove and found Emepey wide open under the basket for the game winner.
The Corsairs play Emerson College at 2 p.m. on Sunday in the LaFrance Hospitality Tournament Championship.
