BENNINGTON - Decisive runs, late leads and winning streaks represent uncharted waters for the Southern Vermont College women's basketball team.
And while it wasn't exactly smooth sailing at the SVC Field House on Thursday night, the Mountaineers managed to navigate their way past visiting Anna Maria College by the final score of 66-60. Southern Vermont (2-1) broke open a close game with an 18-2 run early in the second half, but was forced to hang on as the Amcats (0-2) clawed back to within a single possession at 56-53 with just under four minutes left.
SVC then put the game on ice behind freshman point guard Joa Claircius (Clermont, Fla./East Ridge High School), who made two huge steals and scored six of her game and career-high 35 total points within the final 1:28 of play.
"Joa was a real key for us," SVC head coach Ben Kozik said. "She got steals when we needed them, and she made her layups. It was a good win, but I'd like to see us win by more - these close games are killing me."
Thursday's game was only close because of the long-range shooting of AMC. The Amcats connected on eight of their 15 attempts from three-point range, including four by freshman Amanda Hevy - whose final trey gave the visitors their last glimmer of hope by pulling them within four, 62-58, with 48 seconds remaining.
But a pair of free throws by Claircius and a fast-break lay-up by Shaniece Delgado sent the Mountaineers to their second consecutive victory within a span of three days.
"We're learning how to put teams away," Claircius said. "We struggled with that at the very beginning of the year, but now we're starting to execute like we need to."
SVC held a slim 44-43 lead when the Mountaineers began their statement run with just over 14 minutes remaining in the second half. Freshman and Vermont native Alyssa Davis kick-started the spurt with a three-ball from the right wing, and Claircius kept it going by turning an inbounds pass from Julia Fagan (New Britain, Conn./New Britain High School) (14 points) into a driving layup for two.
The Amcats answered behind a jumper from sophomore Emily Nugent (a team-high 16 points), but SVC took command behind two Claircius steals and transition layups with four straight points by Fagan in-between. A defensive rebound was then outletted football-style to a cherry-picking Claircius for another easy deuce that capped the run with the Mountaineers ahead, 51-35.
The visitors wouldn't go quietly, however; Nugent stopped SVC's run with a free throw then canned a triple from the left corner to get the Amcats going on a run of their own. But Fagan crashed the AMC party by gathering the ensuing inbounds pass and rocketing coast-to-coast for an easy layup.
AMC mounted its most sustained offensive attack of the game over the next 4:40, to the tune of a 14-3 run behind a pair of threes by Hevy and four points each from Nugent and Maggie Sielawa (nine points). But Fagan was once again the antidote for the Amcats, as she ripped down a critical offensive rebound - one of her game-high 21 boards - to keep one of her team's offensive possessions alive.
Anna Maria head coach Charlie Noonan called his team's final timeout with 1:37 remaining and his team trailing by three, 58-55. But whatever blueprint he drew up came crashing down when Claircius promptly stole back the ball and took it the other way for a layup to drive a big-time nail into the Amcats' coffin.
"They were coming up close, so I knew that I had to step up and get the ball by any means possible," said Claircius, who racked up a game-high five steals on the night. "I was just determined to get a steal."
SVC also got a strong contribution from Tasha Smith (Capitol Heights, Md./Suitland HS), who tallied seven points - including a 3-for-4 showing from the charity stripe - and 10 rebounds.
The Mountaineers will try to make it three in a row when they travel to Worcester Polytechnical Institute next Tuesday for a 7:30 p.m. tilt.