BENNINGTON, Vt. - There was definitely not a lack of unrelenting effort. Unfortunately, the Southern Vermont College women could not stop the Mitchell College attack for the entire forty minutes on Tuesday night, falling 85-55.

The Mountaineers (5-16 overall, 3-9 New England Collegiate Conference) immediately came out flying from the opening tip, playing tight defense, crashing the boards and hitting those all-important early shots. Just four minutes in, Kiara Bates went up strong, grabbed an offensive rebound and found Kayla Whitman parked outside the three-point line. Whitman drained the open look, giving SVC an 8-7 lead with 16:23 remaining in the half.

The Mariners (10-9 overall, 9-2 NECC) seemed unmotivated throughout the opening half.

With 11:46 remaining in the first half, MC found inspiration out of a timeout and began to hustle more, jump-starting a 12-2 run over the next three minutes as Alison Peck caught fire and drilled two three-pointers during that span.

The Mountaineers fought right back with a run of their own over the next couple minutes. Whitman capped the run with another three-pointer from the wing with 4:25 remaining to cut the Mariners' lead down to two.

MC continued to find Peck with passes outside the arc, and she continued to hit shots, giving the Mariners a 38-28 lead at halftime.

Joa Claircius led SVC with 17 points but was only 5-18 from the field. Rachel Pannell had a strong game scoring 13 points and pulling down 5 rebounds.

The Mountaineers dominated the boards out-rebounding the Mariners 58-43 but could not connect on second chance shots only shooting 28.2% from the field. Markeisha Mullen led Southern Vermont with 20 rebounds and added 6 points for a strong performance.

"It is a positive thing to see that we out-rebounded (MC) and I thought we ran our offensive sets well," Kozik said. "We are still in the hunt for the playoffs and there are some positives that we can take away from tonight."

Turnovers have been a key factor in the losses for SVC this season with 34 tonight compared to 20 by MC.

"I am pleased because we worked throughout the entire game," SVC head coach Ben Kozik said. "But we also shot ourselves in the foot throughout; we had way too many turnovers, missed more open layups than we should have and missed too many free throws.

Unfortunately for the Mountaineers, Peck gelled into a groove from outside and continued to kill any hope of a comeback. Peck caught fire from three land draining 8-11 on the night. She finished with a game high 28 points for the Mariners.

Peck's 28 was one of many strong performances as Destiney Harris had a double-double with 17 points, 12 rebounds and also had 5 steals for Mitchell. Dishing out 12 assists was Jen Iglesias, who usually averages 18.0 points a game. She only finished making 3-13 from the field giving her 10 points for the Mariners.

Southern Vermont hosts Lesley University (#1 in the NECC) this Saturday, February 14, at 7:00 p.m.