BENNINGTON, Vt. – A strong second-half helped the Newbury College women's basketball team pull away from Southern Vermont College Saturday afternoon to grab a 58-45 New England Collegiate Conference win at SVC.
Southern Vermont took an early lead by converting free throws in a game which saw a total of 49 fouls. Newbury stuck with the Mountaineers, however, and took its first lead, 8-7, almost midway through the first half. Free throws and layups helped the Nighthawks increase their lead to 18-11, but SVC would not give up and continued to drive the ball and make its way to the charity stripe. The NC lead was closed to 23-20 at the break.
Newbury came out of the locker room running, making three layups early into the second period to gain a 29-22 advantage. Free throws continued to slow any momentum the Mountaineers started, and the Nighthawks soon found themselves ahead 41-26. SVC freshman captain Amber Flagg (Windsor, Conn.) put down six-straight points to get the Mountaineers back in the game, but it would not be enough as Newbury and its senior center Catherine O'Connell (Quincy, Mass.) kept converting jump shots and free throws to grab the 58-45 victory.
Flagg was a perfect 7-7 from the line, finishing with a game-high 18 points on the afternoon. Mountaineer freshman Javasha White (Medford, N.Y.) grabbed a team-high 15 rebounds, but 16 from Newbury's freshman Alicia Rosario (Brockton, Mass.) and another seven off the bench from junior captain Katie Haney (Winchendon, Mass.) led to a 46-42 Newbury advantage on the boards.
The Nighthawks were led by Rosario with 11 points, while freshman guard Alex Pezzella (Rockland, Mass.) recorded nine off the bench for head coach Katie Greene; O'Connell also finished with nine.
The Mountaineers (1-5, 1-1 NECC) try to bounce back with a 7 p.m. non-conference tip at home against Green Mountain College on Wednesday, while Newbury (4-4, 2-0 NECC) is off until after the new year and winter break, returning to action January 4th with a 5 p.m. game at Albertus Magnus College.