Suffolk University’s women’s basketball team needed to win their last two conference games to capture the fourth seed for the Great Northeast Athletic Conference playoffs, and the Lady Rams answered the call.
Head coach Ed Leyden’s team put up some impressive offensive numbers during their last two regular season GNAC battles, posting 80-plus points on both Anna Maria College and St. Joseph’s (CT).
Fresh off defeating their archrival Emerson College on the road Feb. 7, Suffolk played Anna Maria four days afterwards and demolished their competition by a score of 89-32. The 89 point output marked a season-high for the Lady Rams, with senior Meghan Black leading the team with 17 points offensively.
New Hampshire natives senior Mary Garon and junior Jacqueline Vienneau weren’t far behind in the points department, with 13 and 14 respectively.
The game was over almost from the starting tip at Ridgeway, as Suffolk went on a 25-6 run through the first seven minutes of the contest. Part of the reason for the low-scoring output for the AMCATS was a result of their 35 turnovers on offense, leading to plenty of points off of takeaways for their opponent.
After suffering an out-of-conference loss to UMass Boston five days after their blowout win, the Lady Rams needed to put the past behind them and focus on winning a key game against the St. Joseph’s Blue Jays to end their regular season.
Suffolk clinched a playoff berth with their win against Emerson earlier in February, but a win against the Blue Jays secured that at least one of their postseason games will be played on their home court. The dynamic senior duo of Garon and Black were determined to play the opening playoff round at Ridgeway, recording 19 points each in a 82-67 victory for their team.
Vienneau may not have had as many points as her two teammates, but she did record a career milestone during the contest, recording her 300th assist. She becomes the first member of the Suffolk women’s basketball team to accomplish the feat, putting her 264 assists away from the conference record set by Lisa Belmonth of Norwich University.
The Lady Rams entered the tournament as the fourth seed, placing them in the same bracket as first place Emmanuel, who handed Suffolk one of their three in-conference losses in the season. The Saints will take on the eighth seed Norwich Cadets in the tournament’s first round, with a potential rematch between the Suffolk and Emmanuel in the second round.
Though if Suffolk were to defeat their first round opponent and Norwich were to pull of the tournament’s first upset, the Lady Rams would be playing a Cadets squad they defeated handedly during the regular season.
Suffolk defeated Mount Ida 93-59 in the quarterfinal round of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Tournament on Tuesday evening. Suffolk will play either Emmanuel or Norwich in the semi-finals on Thursday.
During the game Garon recorded her 500th career rebound becoming the seventh Suffolk player over the past decade to reach this accomplishment. She finished the game with a season-high 21 points and 10 rebounds.