CONCORD, N.H. ---- The Massasoit women's basketball team split a pair of games at the NHTI Holiday Inn New Year's Classic Tournament over the weekend, topping NHTI 71-56 on Saturday before falling to the University of Maine at Augusta, 72-54 on Sunday.
The Warriors now own a 6-4 overall record for the season, with their next game slated for Wednesday, Jan. 18 vs. Gateway CC in Brockton.
Massasoit placed two individuals on the NHTI Holiday All-Tournament Team, in sophomore guard Tati Dias (Brockton) and freshman center Monica Knight (Halifax).
Dias averaged 13.5 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals for the tourney, while Knight tallied 9.5 points and 15 boards per contest.
Game 1: Massasoit 71, NHTI 56
A third quarter offensive outburst led to Massasoit topping the host NHTI Lynx on Saturday, 71-56.
The Warriors led 32-30 at the break and came firing out of the gate in the third period, outscoring NHTI 24-11, as Tati Dias and Geornaisha Silva-Moore (Brockton) combined for 13 points in the frame. Massasoit shot 47.6 percent in the third, compared to just 21.4 percent by NHTI as the third quarter proved to be the difference in the game.
Monica Knight produced a big game in the post, finishing with a double-double, posting 12 points and pulling down a career-high 20 rebounds (nine offensive). Natascha Elias (Brockton) led the Warriors with 16 points and Dias added 11 points and nine boards.
"Overall, we played very well as a team," head coach Colie Trawick said. "We had team scoring which is what has to happen in our offense. We had eight players score and three in double figures and played team basketball to get a great result."
Massasoit totaled seven players with six or more points in a balanced offensive attack.
The Warriors finished with 57 team rebounds, 20 coming on the offensive glass.
Riselly Deoelo led NHTI with 14 points as the Lynx (11-5) were held to just 27.9 percent shooting for the contest.
Game 2: U-Maine Augusta 72, Massasoit 54
Massasoit fell in a big first half hole and was unable to climb out, falling to U-Maine Augusta, 72-54 on Sunday to wrap up the NHTI Holiday Inn New Year's Classic Tourney.
Leading 14-9, the Moose (8-6) outscored the Warriors 24-10 in the second quarter to hold a commanding 38-19 lead at the break.
"We didn't play with the same fire we played with on Saturday," Trawick said. "It was a rough first half for us, but we did play better in the second half. We just put ourselves in too big of an early hole. Monica and Tati both played hard and Gabby (Boutin) did a great job for us also.
"This week was a sneak peek of how good we can really be. They have raised my expectation bar for the rest of the season."
Dias netted a team-best 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Sierra Johnson (Brockton) added 14 points going 6-of-10 from the floor and Silva-Moore chipped in with 11 points.
Caitlin LaFountain topped the Moose with a game-high 29 points and 11 rebounds in the victory.