BOSTON, Mass. - UMass Boston Women's Basketball has put together their first winning streak of the season after downing Lasell University 59-54 at Clark Athletic Center on Tuesday night. The Beacons held off a furious fourth quarter comeback from the Lasers behind a game-high 17 points from Kerian Farina.

THE BASICS
UMass Boston 59, Lasell University 54

UMass Boston (2-3)
Lasell University (2-3)

HOW IT HAPPENED
The early goings of Tuesday's first quarter saw Farina and Alexah Potter combine for 11 points to give the Beacons a quick 13-7 lead. Though the Lasers came as close as down four points, Kayla Jackson and Tatiannah Fevry provided back-to-back buckets to put UMass Boston up eight heading into the second quarter.

Sibayla Jensen had the Beacons rolling in the second, nailing a three-pointer to give them an 11-point advantage with just under five minutes to play in the half. After that moment, though, the Lasers took over. A 10-2 run to close out the quarter sent Lasell into the break trailing by just three points, 30-27.

Head coach Heather Jacobs' halftime adjustments looked to resonate with the Beacons. A free throw from Farina and Jensen's second three-pointer on as many attempts put the hosts up seven. A long scoring drought gave way to a Farina layup to stretch the advantage back out to nine with just over seven minutes to play.

The Beacons played strong defense throughout the third and made their free throws to push the lead to 46-32, their largest of the game, heading into the fourth. 

A comfortable late lead became anything but for the Beacons in the fourth quarter. Three good three-pointers by Lasell's Erica Lendall in the span of less than 90 seconds cut the UMass Boston advantage down to five points. The Lasers hit their free throws late, but fortunately for the Beacons so did Farina. The final three of her 17 points came from the line to ice the 59-54 home victory.

BY THE NUMBERS

• The Beacons have a 55-14 advantage over their opponents in points off turnovers during their two-game winning streak
• Potter has scored in double-digits in three straight games
• After averaging no more than eight points per game in a season in her last three, Farina is scoring 10.6 this year
• After going 2-2 from deep on Tuesday, Jensen is shooting 75% from three
• Sophie Bradbury recorded a near-double-double with nine points and eight rebounds
• The Beacons have won all three of their all-time meetings with Lasell

WHO'S NEXT
The Beacons will return to action when they travel to Willimantic, Connecticut on December 2 to open up Little East Conference play against Eastern Connecticut State University at 1 PM.