Vikings Handed First Loss on Road

NEWTON, Mass. – Salem State women's basketball traveled to Newton, Massachusetts to take on the Lasers of Lasell University. The Lasers used a strong second quarter to hand the Viking their first loss on the young season.

  Ernidia Goncalves (Everett, Mass.) paced the Vikings with 14 points and 13 rebounds while Kyie Gates (Pembroke, Mass.) added 10 points, eight rebounds, and three assists in the effort.

The Lasers saw four players surpass the double-digit mark on the afternoon, with Kiara Cerruti (Canton, Mass.) recording a game-high 16 points.

The Vikings jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Cerruti netted her first three of the game to bring the Lasers within one. Salem would hold onto the slight edge, leading by as many as eight before Lasell called a timeout to regroup. Cerruti would notch her second three of the game coming out of the timeout, before Abigail Bunce (Spencer, N.Y.) spearheaded a 6-2 run for the Vikings to put them ahead 17-10 with under three minutes to play in the first. The Lasers would close out the opening stanza on a 4-0 run to go into the second only down by a tally of three (17-14).

The Lasers took their first lead of the game less than a minute into the second before a Gates jump shot reclaimed a slight edge for the Vikings' (19-18).  Both teams would exchange the lead over the next three minutes before Lasell closed the half on a 10-1 run to take the 32-23 advantage going into the break.

Four minutes into the third the Lasers would see their biggest lead thus far after back-to-back three-pointers put them ahead 13 points (39-29) and forced the Vikings to regroup. The Vikings came out of the timeout scoring two unanswered baskets to find themselves within nine but a layup on the other end would put the Lasers ahead 44-33 with 2:31 to play in the third. When it looked like the double-digit lead would carry into the fourth, Gates nailed a jumper to make it a 47-38 game heading into the final fifteen minutes of action.

Despite their efforts the Vikings would only come as close as eight in the final stanza, as the Lasers outscored them 17-13 to take the eventual 64-51 non-conference victory over the Vikings.