CHICOPEE, Mass. - The Albertus Magnus College women's basketball team earned its fifth win of the season as the Falcons defeated the Blazers of Elms College in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) road tilt on Tuesday evening. 

Albertus had three players score in double-digits with Jakara Murray-Leach (Norwalk, Conn.) tallying a team-high 25 points to go along with nine rebounds and a steal. Caitlyn Scott (White Plains, N.Y.) recorded her eighth double-digit performance with 17 points, while Diamond White (Hamden, Conn.) collected 11 points, one rebound, four assists, and five steals. 

THE BASICS
Final: Albertus Magnus 66  | Elms 53
Records: Albertus Magnus (5-8, 4-2 GNAC) | Elms (6-5 3-5 GNAC)
Box Score

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Blazers struck first on a made jumper from Angelica Peguero-Flores, but the Falcons responded quickly, as Katherine Raposo (Warwick, R.I.) took a foul and netted both of her shots from the charity stripe to tie the game at 2-all. Murray-Leach found the net a minute later with a lay-up, giving the Falcons the early 4-2 advantage with 6:31 remaining in the first quarter. 

Over the next five minutes, the Blazers put together a 4-0 run to take the 6-4 lead, but a Murray-Leach lay-up at the 1:35 mark tied the game at 6-all. Over the final minute, the Falcons put together a 5-2 run, capped by a long three-pointer from Murray-Leach in the final seconds, to take an 11-8 lead into the second quarter. 

Murray-Leach struck again in the opening seconds of the second stanza, swooshing a jumper to expand the Falcon's advantage to five, 13-8. The teams traded baskets for the next few minutes, with a Raposo lay-up expanding the visitor's lead to seven, 19-12. An Elms' lay-up cut the deficit to five before White sank a long trey to make it a 22-14 game, with just over five minutes remaining in the stanza.

The Blazers put together a 9-6 run to finish off the second quarter, with Carsyn Langhorn (Norwalk, Conn.) netting a lay-up and both Raposo and White sinking a pair of free throws to send the teams into the halftime break with the Falcons holding the 27-22 lead. 

Elms started the second half with the hot hand as the hosts managed to cut the lead to within one, 27-26, just three minutes in. Shortly after, Murray-Leach and Scott got the Falcons rolling with a pair of lay-ups, but the Blazers answered with a 4-0 run to make it a one-point game once again, 31-30. A pair of made Murray-Leach free throws were quickly countered by an Elms lay-up, keeping it a one-point game, 33-32, with four minutes left on the clock.

The teams traded lay-ups before Natasha Rivera (Ansonia, Conn.) found the net from well behind the arc, advancing the Falcon advantage to four, 38-34, and sparking a 9-0 Falcons' run that saw the visitors pull ahead, 43-34, with just over two minutes left in the frame. The Blazers closed out the third with a 7-1 run sending the teams into the final stanza, with the Falcons holding the narrow 44-41 advantage.

Scott got the Falcons moving early in the final quarter, putting in a lay-up to extend the Falcons' lead to five, 46-41. Shortly after, Murray-Leach and White found the net with back-to-back lay-ups to extend the Falcons' run to 7-0 and the score to 51-41 with eight minutes remaining in regulation. 

The Blazers put together a quick 4-0 run to cut the deficit to six, 51-45, but Murray-Leach retaliated with her own 4-0 run to regain the 10-point advantage for the Falcons, 55-45. The teams traded baskets for the next few minutes, pushing the score to 59-50 in favor of Albertus with 3:22 left to play. From there, the Falcons put together a 7-3 run, capped by four points from Scott and three from White, and held on for the 66-53 conference victory.   

TEAM STATS

• Albertus: 37.7% FG | 16.7% 3PT | 57.9% FT
• Elms: 30.1% FG | 0% 3PT | 56.3% FT

KEY PERFORMERS
Albertus:

• Jakara Murray-Leach - 25 points (11-23 FG, 1-7 3PT, 2-2 FT) | 8 rebounds | 1 assist | 4 steals | 1 block 
• Caitlyn Scott - 17 points (8-12 FG, 1-4 FT) | 5 rebounds | 2 assists 
• Diamond White - 11 points (3-13 FG, 1-3 3PT, 4-7 FT) | 1 rebound | 4 assists | 5 steals 

Elms:

• Angelica Peguero-Flores - 24 points (10-23 FG, 4-6 FT) | 16 rebounds | 2 assists | 2 blcoks
• Abigayle Sherbourne - 8 points (3-11 FG, 2-5 FT) | 10 rebounds | 2 assists | 1 steal 
• Aiyanalee Lopez - 5 points (2-10 FG, 0-1 3PT, 1-2 FT) | 14 rebounds | 3 assists | 1 steal | 1 block  

NOTEWORTHY

• This is the 11th all-time meeting between the two programs
• Tonight's win extends Albertus' all-time series record against Elms to 10-1.
• With her 25 points tonight, Murray-Leach has scored 10+ points in seven straight contests, with 20+ points in five of those contests. 
• White's 11 points tonight continue her streak of seven straight games with 10+ points.
• White has scored 10+ points in 10 out of 13 games this season. 
• With tonight's victory, head coach JR Fredette has accumulated 128 career victories on the court for Albertus.    

UP NEXT
The women's basketball team returns to action on Thursday, January 20th with a road GNAC tilt against Johnson & Wales University. Game time is set for 5:30 PM in Providence, RI.