Suffolk eliminate Raiders 60-45

(Boston, Mass.) The Rivier Women's Basketball team fell in the first round of the GNAC Tournament this evening to the Suffolk University Rams by the score of 60-45. With the loss, the Raiders were eliminated from the GNAC tournament, ending their season. With the win, the Suffolk University Rams advance to the GNAC semi-finals where they will play the top seeded Emmanuel College.

Both teams came out slow offensively in the first half as Suffolk would enter the break with a 23-20 lead. Rivier was only able to must points from three players in the opening 20 minutes of action as Purcell put in eight points, while sophomore Savanna Butterfield (Londonderry, N.H.) scored eight as well and sophomore Rebecca DeBaldo (Pelham, N.H.) chipped in with four.

Suffolk would hold on to the lead for the entirety of the second half as Brillaud put together an 11-point half on 7-for-10 shooting from the free throw line. Nagri would also add 10 points as Suffolk got 21 points off their bench in the period. The Rams held a distinct advantage on the glass in the game with a 55-40 edge in rebounds over Rivier. The Raiders shot just 5.6-percent from beyond the arc in the loss as they were a combined 1-for-18 in the game from three-point land.

Rivier was led by senior Deanna Purcell (Hudson, N.H.) who scored 21 points while teammate Savanna Butterfield (Londonderry, N.H.) scored 11 points and secured 10 rebounds for the Raiders.  

Suffolk had four players finish the evening with double digit scoring totals. Alongside Brillaud's 18 points, fellow classmate Iliana Quadri (Sudbury, Mass.) scored 14 points. Junior Alessandra Quadri (Sudbury, Mass.) joined Brillaud in finishing the game with a double-double as she also tallied 13 rebounds and added 12 points. Freshman Alexandra Nagri (Salem, N.H.) chipped in with 11 points as she was one of two Suffolk players to record four steals defensively on the evening.