NEW LONDON, Conn. - The Albertus Magnus College women's basketball team won its eighth straight game, defeating Mitchell College, 83-68 in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action on Wednesday evening.

Jakara Murray-Leach (Norwalk, Conn.) caught fire from the floor, scoring 23 points on 11-for-15 shooting to pace the Falcons. Amanda Zdru (Stratford, Conn.) scored a season-high 18 points on 6-for-10 shooting from three and Diamond White (Hamden, Conn.) scored 17 points to go with four assists.

THE BASICS

FINAL: Albertus Magnus 83 | Mitchell 68

RECORDS: Albertus Magnus (12-3, 4-0 GNAC) | Mitchell (2-9, 0-3 GNAC)

Box

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Mitchell scored the first two points of the game, but it was all Albertus after that as the Falcons scored the next nine points including four from Murray-Leach and a three from Zdru.
• With Albertus leading, 12-6 midway through the first quarter, Murray-Leach took over, scoring 11 of the last 14 points for the Falcons, as they took a 26-17 lead into the second quarter. Murray-Leach scored 15 points in the quarter on 7-for-9 shooting. She also grabbed six rebounds.
• Albertus took its first double-digit lead at the 8:44 mark of the second quarter when Zdru hit the first of her three consecutive threes. The nine straight points from Zadru gave Albertus a 35-19.
• Twice in the quarter, the Mariners cut their deficit to ten points. But both times Sarah Evangelista (West Haven, Conn.) hit threes to give Albertus the 13-point lead.  Evangelista hit a third three in the quarter to give Albertus its biggest lead at the time at 48-30 with 2:11 left in the first half.. 
• Albertus led 50-35 heading into the half and went 6-for-14 from three in the second quarter.
• The Falcons outscored Mitchell, 14-7 for the first 3:58. Twelve of those points came from White and Zdru, who scored six points apiece as the Falcons led 64-42 at the 6:02 mark.
• Mitchell cut the lead to 66-52 after a free throw from Lyliana Daly with 227 seconds left, but a layup from Hannah Barrientos (East Hampton, Conn.) at the buzzer gave Albertus the 68-52 lead into the fourth.
• The Falcons effectively put the game away early in the fourth as they scored the first eight points in the quarter to take a 76-52 lead, their biggest of the game. Mitchell wouldn't get any closer than 15 points the rest of the way.

TEAM STATS

Albertus 37.0 FG% | 26.1 3PT% | 60.0 FT%

Mitchell 37.7 FG% | 26.7 3PT% | 62.1 FT%

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES

Albertus

• Jakara Murray-Leach 23 Points | 11-15 FG | 8 Rebounds
• Amanda Zdru 18 Points | 6-10 3PT 
• Diamond White 17 Points | 4 Assists

Mitchell

• Yasmine Santos 36 Points | 13-22 FG | 15 Rebounds
• Alexia Watson 13 Points | 15 Rebounds
• Lyliana Daly 9 Points | 12 Rebounds

NOTEWORTHY

• The Falcons remained undefeated against Mitchell and are now 14-0 against the Mariners.
• Murray-Leach jumped up to 11th all-time in program history in scoring and now has 1,221 points in her career. Teammate Caitlyn Scott (White Plains, N.Y.) is tenth with 1,229.
• The Falcons forced 24 turnovers, leading to 21 points. 
• The 22 assists by Albertus were the second most it had this season and fifth time it has had at least 20 assists in a game.
• The six three-pointers for Zdru were a career-high. The 18 points were the second most she had in her career.
• Albertus remains in first in the GNAC and are one of just three teams still undefeated in conference play.

UP NEXT

The Falcons will go on the road to take on Saint Joseph's (Me.) on Saturday, January 13 at 1 p.m.