Fleming Leads Lesley Against Simmons
Despite a strong performance by Medford native and Matignon High School graduate Emily Fleming, the Lesley University women’s basketball team fell to visiting Simmons College, 76-34, in non-conference women’s basketball action Wednesday night at the Nicholas Athletics Center.
The Simmons Sharks (2-8) shot 54 percent from three-point range in the first half, opening up a 43-19 halftime lead on 7-13 shooting from deep.
Brittany Dolloff’s (Hollis, NH) second straight trey opened up a 13-7 lead, Hannah May (Hamden, CT) extended the lead to 18-9, and Leah Davis (Cranston, RI) knocked down consecutive threes during a 16-0 run that put the Sharks in front 40-17. Davis completed her perfect 3-3 long-distance shooting by sneaking in a triple from the left corner as the halftime horn sounded, sending the visitors to the locker room up 43-19.
Fleming led the Lynx (0-7) with eight first half points on 6-6 shooting at the free throw stripe, while Davis led all players with 14 at the half.
Fleming did her best to guide the Lynx back into the game, scoring the team’s first nine points out of the intermission. Her three-pointer with 14:29 to play cut the deficit to 20, and her second triple of the half forced a Simmons timeout in making it a 51-28 contest at the 9:40 mark.
The Sharks responded with a 13-2 run out of the timeout, putting the gutsy guard and her Lynx away for good. Liz O’Connor (Milton, MA) scored eight of her 10 after halftime, and Georgia Kotsopoulos (Cambridge, MA) tallied seven of her 13 in Simmons’ second half run as the Sharks sailed to a 76-34 victory.
Fleming finished with a game-high 17 points on 7-8 shooting at the stripe and 2-4 shooting from deep to go along with seven rebounds.
For the Sharks, Davis scored all of her team-high 14 before halftime, Kotsopoulos followed with 13 and O’Connor and Dolloff tallied 10 each. Jessica Thomas (Sandwich, MA) added eight points and a game-high eight rebounds.
While Simmons’ sharp first-half shooting stole the show, Leah Lipschitz’s Lynx quietly shot a season-best 82.4 percent (14-17) from the stripe. In addition to Fleming’s 7-8 effort, sophomore guard Sarah Apgar (Andover, NJ/Lenape Valley) hit a perfect 4-4.
Lesley travels to Regis in New England Collegiate Conference play at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, when Simmons travels to Mount Ida in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference battle.
– Information and photo from Lesley University