SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- Bri Frongillo scored 25 points and Charlotte Levison added 15 points, eight assists, three blocks and two steals as Emerson College defeated the Mount Holyoke College basketball team 76-44 on Senior Day for the host Lyons.
The visiting Lions of Emerson (15-6, 6-1 NEWMAC) remained in second place in the conference with their second straight win and seventh in the past eight games.
Mount Holyoke (4-17, 0-7 NEWMAC) remained winless in league play, but showed improvement from last season's matchup with the Lions. The Lyons fell to the Lions by 51 points a season ago in Boston.
Mount Holyoke senior Katie Rha (Douglaston, N.Y.) erupted for a career- and team-high 13 points, shooting 4-for-5 from the field, including 1-2 from three, and 4-for-4 from the free throw line. She added five rebounds and two steals to her stellar effort.
Fellow seniors Cal McGonagle (Yarmouth, Maine), Marley Berano (Lady Lake, Fla.), and Amrit Khinda (Van Nuys, Calif.) all drew the start along with Rha and sophomore Schuyler Pettibone (Raleigh, N.C.). McGonagle had eight points and three rebounds, Berano added three points and Khinda grabbed a rebound for the Lyons. Pettibone grabbed a team-high six rebounds.
Sophomore Hannah Goen (New London, N.H.) had eight points off the bench and junior Alex Twomey (Nutley, N.J.) contributed five rebounds, three assists and four steals.
Emerson had a 25-19 advantage in turnovers but enjoyed a 32-11 difference in points off turnovers. The Lions significantly outshot the Lyons from the field (.426 to .250) and from three (.379 to .294).
Mount Holyoke jumped out to an 8-2 lead early on, benefiting from threes by Rha and Goen and a pair of free throws by Twomey. Emerson got back-to-back 3-pointers from Kendra Dodd and Jessie Silk to take its first lead at 10-8, and the surge blossomed into a 17-2 run, as the Lions led 19-10 and never looked back. Sophomore Emma Zoubok (Somers, N.Y.) made the Lyons 3-for-3 on three-point attempts in the quarter, but the hosts trailed 19-13 at the first break.
Mount Holyoke kept Emerson close in the second quarter, with a three from Goen and four Rha free throws helping the Lyons hold the halftime deficit to 10 points (34-24).
Frongillo drained three 3-pointers in the third quarter, Dodd made a fourth and English controlled the boards with seven rebounds as Emerson outscored Mount Holyoke 22-8 in the period to assume a commanding 56-32 lead going into the last quarter.
Emerson's bench trio of Kaylin O'Meara, Sofia Canter and Taylor Arnold combined for 15 points in the fourth quarter as the Lions increased their lead in the period. A layup at the final buzzer gave the visitors their largest lead of the game.
Mount Holyoke will host Smith College on Wednesday at 7pm. Emerson hosts WPI Wednesday at 6pm.
