In a non-conference matchup at Lasell College this Thursday evening, the ladies of the PSU Basketball Team struggled to find their footing in a game that left them with a 23-point deficit at the final buzzer.
While Lasell put up 12 points to open the game, the Panthers were unable to find the net at the start of the first half. That is until freshman Elizabeth Caron (Londonderry, N.H.) gave the team their first points of the game with 12:21 to play in the half, decreasing Lasell’s lead to 10 points. Caron went on to become the Panther’s second-leading scorer of the night, with four more points in the first half and seven overall, trailing leading scorer, junior Taylor Perry (Simsbury, CT), by just two points
Following Caron’s initial layup, sophomore Ace Lawrence (Middletown, CT) landed a three-pointer and classmate Rosalie Edmonds (Goffstown, N.H.) sunk a free-throw, further decreasing Lasell’s lead to 12-6 with nine minutes remaining in the half. The Panthers run was halted when the Laser’s freshman Breanna Cashman connected with the net for a three-pointer.
Lasell continued to lead throughout the half by at least nine points, finishing the period with a 30-16 lead.
The second half opened with a few minutes of back-and-forth scoring, sophomore Lindsy Poulin (Goffstown, N.H.) adding four points for the Panthers. Lasell’s junior Katie Stopera made a three-point shot with 17:00 remaining in the half that lead to a 17-5 run over Plymouth for the next seven minutes. This increased the Laser’s lead to 51-25, a double-digit deficit that the Panthers were unable to overcome for the remainder of the game, the final score being 60-37.
When asked about what the teams needs to do in order to be successful going into the post-season, sophomore Madison Beatrice (Newton, MA), who had five rebounds and two assists on the night, responded,
“We definitely need to get more shots up. We’ve been struggling on offense a lot lately and it really showed in [this] game. Also, we need to execute.”
With the loss, Plymouth drops to 6-14 on the season. The Panthers return home this Saturday to face-off against Western Connecticut in an LEC game beginning at 1:00 p.m. in Foley Gymnasium.
(Update: The Panthers lost to Western Connecticut 76-36 in the game on Saturday. They face off against University of Southern Maine in an away conference game on Tuesday, Feb. 10)