Well-Balanced Effort Guides Women's Basketball Past Rivier

WESTON, Mass. – The Regis (Mass.) women's basketball team continued its unblemished start to the Great Northeast Athletic Conference season, using a well-balanced scoring effort to top Rivier 63-53 Tuesday night at Higgins Court.

Nikki Bitinaitis (Cromwell, Conn.) scored a team-high 11 points while adding eight rebounds and five assists for an overall solid performance. Taylor Iorfino (Monroe, Conn.) added nine points and six rebounds in a game that wasn't as close as the final score indicated.

Kaylee Kacavas (Dracut, Mass.) was the offense for the Raiders (0-10, 0-6 GNAC) scoring a game-high 23 points on 10-25 shooting. Megan Hamel (Colebrook, N.H.) put up a double double with 11 points and 13 rebounds and Emily Kacavas (Dracut, Mass.) added 12 boards.

Neither team got off to a good start to open the game as Sam D'Angelo's (Woburn, Mass.) post layup was the only basket for the first 4:13 of the quarter. Emilee Kacavas evened the game with Rivier's first basket but the Pride would run off seven straight points and end the period on a 12-4 run to take an eight-point lead.

The Raiders stayed competitive for much of the second quarter but it was Maura Russell's (Braintree, Mass.) three pointer that broke a minor Pride dry spell and a Miranda Hernandez (Poway, Calif.) triple that pushed the lead to double digits. Regis would enter halftime up 31-19.

Rivier could do little to stop the Pride to start the third quarter who opened the period on a 13-3 run highlighted by a pair of baskets from Bitianitis. Regis outscored Rivier by nine points in the period to make the majority of the fourth quarter a just a formality.

The Pride look to continue its perfect league mark on Thursday, Jan. 18 visiting Johnson & Wales (RI) for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff. The Raiders are back in action Saturday, Jan. 20 hosting Norwich at 3:00 p.m.

#RegisWBB