Women's Basketball: Raiders quick start not enough in loss at Emmanuel

(Boston, Mass.) The Rivier University Women's Basketball team almost pulled off the upset this evening as they fell to perennial Great Northeast Athletic Conference powerhouse Emmanuel College, 70-58 at the Andy Yasinoff Court in Boston, Mass. The Raiders move to 0-13 on the season (0-9 GNAC) while the Saints improve to 11-6 (7-1 GNAC).

Rivier showed up to play from the start and caught the Saints napping early on as they rolled to a 14-11 lead at the end of the first 10 minutes. The Raiders pushed their lead to 24-16 in the second half before Emmanuel stormed back as the teams entered the locker rooms tied at 35-35. The Saints then took the lead for good with a 7-0 run to start the third quarter and the Raiders, who trimmed the lead to single digits in the fourth, couldn't muster a comeback and ultimately fell by 12 points.

Sophomore Lizzy Meehan (Nashua, N.H.) had herself a night as she totaled 16 points and 15 rebounds – her first career double-double on 8-of-19 shooting from the floor. Junior Kaylee Kacavas (Dracut, Mass.) led the team with 21 points scored while classmate Megan Hamel (Colebrook, N.H.) added nine points and nine rebounds.

The home team was led by a 19-point effort off the bench from senior Alisha Fox (National Park, N.J.) and also got a double-double from sophomore Yuleska Ramirez-Tejeda (South Boston, Mass.) who finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Junior Madison McLaughlin (Westerly, R.I.) also reached double-figures with 12 points in the win for Emmanuel.

Both teams will return to conference action on Saturday in the state of Connecticut. Rivier will travel to the University of Saint Joseph for a 1pm game while Emmanuel heads further south to New Haven for a date with Albertus Magnus.