Amidst all the hoopla surrounding Super Bowl week, the scene at Pine Manor could best be described as anti-hype.,On Thursday, as the rest of the sports world had begun focusing in on the Super Bowl, the Emerson women’s basketball team traveled to its adopted home at Pine Manor College to face Albertus Magnus.

Amidst all the hoopla surrounding Super Bowl week, the scene at Pine Manor could best be described as anti-hype. But as odd as it sounds, the two games were remarkably similar in he way they unfolded, with the Lions walking away winners, 66-49.

Like their Pittsburg counterparts, the Lions entered the game as the favorites but played tentatively in the first and led just 27-26 at the break.

The second half of the game was a different story. Emerson scored the first eight points of the half as part of a 14-2 run and never looked back.

Appropriately, the team scored several of these points on what were basically touchdown passes, with somebody slinging the ball from the baseline down court to a waiting Lion for an easy lay-up.

Albertus Magnus never seemed to catch on to the play and so the Lions continually exploited them in the transition game.

“We made a little adjustment in the second half,” said Head Coach Melissa Hart. “Mainly we ran a little harder. We did a good job of taking advantage of the opportunities we had early in that half.”

Sophomore Becky Everett said she thinks the Lions wore down Pine Manor with the running game.

“I feel like we really picked it up in the second half,” Everett said. “We got them tired and just went at them.

Just like the big game on Sunday, there was no standout performer for the Lions, simply a balanced attack from several players.

Sophomore guard Lindsay DeStefano was the Lions’ leading scorer with 14 points.

“I took a couple threes in the beginning and realized my shot was off,” said DeStefano. “I started just taking it to the basket and I did better.”

Everett was second in scoring with 11 points, but was limited somewhat by early foul trouble. Because of this, Hart was forced to juggle her starting five throughout the first half, something that may have contributed to the team’s lack of cohesiveness early in the game.

“Our flow was a little better without as much subbing,” Hart said.

Players said a strong team approach helped them on the court. While the flow of the offense may still need tuning, the defense has now allowed over 49 points just twice in the Lions’ nine victories.

“We’ve been playing in a half-court zone the whole year,” said Hart. “When people help out, it works well.

For the Lions, now 9-10 on the season and 6-3 in The Greater Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC), communication will be key to their winning any big games of their own in the future.

“We need to talk more on offense and defense,” said Everett. “As we improve on that, we’ll start winning more games.”