WESTON, Mass. -- The Mount Holyoke College basketball team played lockdown defense in building and sustaining a first-half lead, but the host Regis College Pride came back with a big third quarter to defeat the Lyons 67-47 in non-conference action on Saturday afternoon.
Mount Holyoke outscored Regis 11-4 in the first quarter, holding the Pride to 0-11 shooting from the field for the period while getting two baskets from junior Sofia Francisco (Boston, Mass.) and one apiece from junior Melina Pena (Miami, Fla.), junior Hannah Goen (New London, N.H.), and first-year Justine Dessureault (Trois-Rivieres, Quebec).
Junior Emma Zoubok (Somers, N.Y.) opened the second-quarter scoring with a 3-pointer, and senior Taryn White (Alexandria, Va.) made a layup at the 8:26 mark to expand Mount Holyoke's lead to 16-4.
Regis began clawing back in with a putback by Zoey Swanson followed by a three by Jordyn Striggles.
Consecutive hoops by White helped the Lyons hold off the Pride temporarily during the second quarter. But Madi Zancan scored on back-to-back trips down the floor for Regis, and with 41 seconds to go in the half the Pride took their first lead at 25-24 on a putback by Serenity Ayala.
Erika Marinelli opened the scoring in the third quarter with a 3-pointer for Regis. Jillian Perry then converted a three-point play, then cashed in on a putback. A steal and a layup by Striggles gave Regis a 35-24 lead three minutes into the second half.
Junior Jane Wu (Bangor, Maine) and Pena both drained 3-pointers for Mount Holyoke to reduce Regis's lead to 37-31 with 3:05 to go in the third. But the Pride retook control of the game with an 11-0 run to end the period, including threes by Riley Whittier and Striggles, opening up a 48-31 lead. Regis continued to outplay Mount Holyoke in the fourth quarter, adding three more points to the lead before the final buzzer.
White scored a team-high 12 points to go with nine rebounds and three steals for Mount Holyoke, in her second game of the season. Francisco added eight points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Pena also scored eight points, and Wu and Zoubok added six points apiece.
Zancan scored 19 points to go with 11 rebounds for Regis.
The Pride (2-5) improved to 2-6 all-time against Mount Holyoke (0-6); their last meeting was in the 1995-96 season.
Mount Holyoke will host Lesley University on Tuesday at 6pm.
