NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The Albertus College Falcons women's basketball team won its seventh straight game to open up the new year, defeating Lasell, 72-61 in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) game at The Nest on Saturday afternoon.

Three players scored in double figures, led by Diamond White (Hamden, Conn.) and Caitlyn Scott (White Plains, N.Y.)  who each scored 20 points and Jakara Murray-Leach (Norwalk, Conn.), who had a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds to go with five steals.

THE BASICS

FINAL: Albertus Magnus 72  | Lasell 61

RECORDS: Albertus Magnus (11-3, 3-0 GNAC) | Lasell (6-5, 1-1 GNAC)

BOX

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Albertus scored the first six points of the game just 51 seconds in, with four points coming from Scott. However, Lasell answered with its first six points to tie the game at the 7:26 mark.
• Lasell took its lone lead of the game with 4:08 remaining in the first on a basket from Kiara Cerruti. The lead would last less than a minute as back-to-back layups from White and Murray-Leach put Albertus back up, 14-11. Hannah Barrientos came in off the bench to hit a three as the Falcons went into the second quarter up 19-15.
• Albertus forced ten turnovers on the Lasers in the first quarter.
• Six different players scored in the second quarter for Albertus as the Falcons doubled its lead to 37-29 at the half. After Lasell came back to tie the game at 25-25 with 4:08 remaining, Albertus finished on a 12-4 run behind threes from Amanda Zdru (Stratford, Conn.) and Sarah Evangelista (West Haven, Conn.)
• White and Scott took over in the third as they combined for 14 of the team's 19 points in the frame.
• Albertus took its first double-digit lead of the game at the 7:40 mark after a jumper from White, making it a 41-31 game.
• Lasell's Blaize Mack scored four straight to cut the Lasers deficit to six points, but a 13-5 run capped by a layup from White put Albertus up 54-40. The Falcons took a 56-43 lead into the fourth after a layup from Murray-Leach with less than five seconds left.
• Albertus took its biggest lead of the game with 6:30 left in the fourth after a free throw from White made it a 62-47 game.
• Lasell didn't go away quietly, cutting the Falcons' lead to 66-60 with 2:48 left as Cerruti and Brooke Damboise each hit threes. 
• Albertus allowed just one point the rest of the way, finishing on a 6-1 run to end the game.

TEAM STATS

Albertus: 39.0 FG% | 58.3 FT% | 26.3  3PT%

Lasell: 31.9 FG% | 61.1 FT% | 21.4 3PT%

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES

Albertus

• Diamond White 20 points | 3 Assists | 2 Steals
• Caitlyn Scott 20 Points | 5 Assists | 3 Steals
• Jakara Murray-Leach 16 Points | 13 Rebounds | 5 Steals

Lasell

• Kiara Cerruti 14 Points | 5 Rebounds
• Blaize Mack 11 Points | 13 Rebounds
• Laura Johnson 4 Points | 16 Rebounds

NOTEWORTHY

• Albertus now leads the all-time series, 16-3, including 11 wins in a row.
• With her 20 points, Scott moved into tenth all-time in scoring in program history. She now has 1,222 points in her career.
• Albertus forced 32 turnovers in the game. It was the third time they have forced more than 30 in a game this season.
• Eight of the 11 wins by Albertus have been by double-digits.
• Albertus still sits in first place and is one of just three teams left that are undefeated in GNAC play.

UP NEXT

The Falcons look to extend their winning streak a little longer as they head to Mitchell in an in-state GNAC game on Wednesday, January 10.