Boston, MA- The Women's Basketball team took on the Villa Maria Vikings last night at the Winsor School, a team they had already beaten once this season. The two teams played in each of their season opener's back on November 2nd with Fisher taking the 64-61 victory. The Vikings have gone 17-1 since that loss, and came into the game riding a 16-game winning streak. The two teams battled closely the entire contest, but it was Villa who came out victorius, defeating the Falcons 72-64.
The first four minutes of play was back and forth action that saw four ties with the teams knotted at 8 a piece. Over the next three minutes though, the Vikings went on a 9-0 run to extend its lead after a three-point play from Shaquana Owens to give the visitors a 17-8 lead. Villa would extend their lead to ten with 2:29 left on the clock in the first, but five straight points from Kellie Gaston (Tampa, FL) would get the Falcons back to within five as the score was 25-20 after the first ten minutes of play.
Fisher came out of the first break hot as they scored the first six points taking their first lead of the game 26-25, capped by a Vivian Lara (Norwalk, CA) lay-up. The Vikings responded quickly though as on their next two possesions they took the lead right back, going up 30-26 with 5:55 remaining before the half. The two teams battled defensively over the last five minutes and headed to the locker room with the hosts down 34-32.
The seesaw affair continued into the third quarter as every time Villa would try to extend the lead, Fisher would have the answer. The Falcons continued to trail until Jenny-Lynn Eggers (Sonoma, CA) finished a strong lay-up on a nice feed from Lara to knot the game at 40 with 5:33 on the clock in the third. Villa continued to have an answer though, as they tallied another three-pointer in the next possesion to take the lead again 43-40. The two teams found themselves tied again at 47 after Lara hit a pair of free throws at the 3:47 mark. The Falcons took their first lead of the second half when Shaniah Hazard (Providence, RI) found Choon-Hee Chae (Kyle, TX) who hit from behind the arc to make it 52-51 with 1:19 remaining. The Vikings answered with their own three as the clock wound down to give them the lead right back and the two teams would head to the fourth at 54-52.
The Vikings started the fourth with an 8-0 run that proved to be the difference in the contest as they grabbed their biggest lead at the 3:59 mark going up 68-57. The Falcons would close the gap to five after back-to-back lay-ups from Eggers and a three-pointer from Lara, making it 69-64, but that would be the closest they would get. Fisher would have to play the foul game over the two minutes of play and could not recover, falling 72-64.
Lara led all scorers with 22 and has now had four games in a row in which she has tallied 20+ points, averaging 23 points in that span. She also finished with 10 rebounds, earning her fifth double-double of the season. Eggers had a monster game in the paint as she finished with a season-high 20 points and added six rebounds in the losing effort. Gaston would finish with 17 points, with six rebounds and a pair of steals. Jocelyn Mendoza (Morgan Hill, CA) led the way on the boards with 12, including a season-high six offensive rebounds. Hazard played well off the bench, finishing with six boards while dishing out six assists.
The Vikings had four players in double figures in the win with Nina Cray leading the way with a double-double of 15 points and 10 boards. Owens had a solid game for the visitors as she tallied 13 points, 11 rebounds, three steals, two blocks, while dishing out seven assists in the victory.
The Falcons will return to action on Wednesday when they head to Maine to take on Thomas College at 7pm.