BENNINGTON, Vt. – The Southern Vermont College women's basketball outscored the visiting Wheelock College Wildcats 40-25 in the second half to garner a 79-66 New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) win Saturday afternoon at the Mountaineer Athletic Center.
SVC was led by sophomore captain Amber Flagg (Windsor, Conn.) who scored a game-best 21 points while adding six rebounds, five assists and two steals. Three Wildcats hit double-digits in points, being paced by freshman forward Michelle Woods (Wilmington, Mass.) who had 18 to go along with 11 boards for the double-double.
The Mountaineers took an early 9-6 lead after a layup from sophomore forward Sarah McDonald (Cohoes, N.Y.), but they would not stay in the driver's seat for long as Wheelock would go on a 13-4 run capped by a lay-in by senior guard Jessica Ramsey (Milford, Mass.) to go up 19-13. After a three-pointer by SVC freshman guard Amber Dow (Panton, Vt.) made it a one-point game (22-21), the Wildcats dropped nine unanswered to take their biggest lead of the game, a 31-21 advantage with 7:03 to go in the opening period.
Refusing to go into the break quietly, Southern Vermont was able to chip away at the lead with baskets down low including three from sophomore forward Kala MacKenzie (Fair Haven, Vt.). The hosts also made the most of their bonus trips to the free throw line, hitting 4-of-4 in the closing 16 seconds to cut the Wheelock lead to just two (41-39) at halftime. Flagg had 10 points in the first while Woods and WC freshman forward Shannon Garvey (Clarksburg, Mass.) followed suit.
As indicated by the score, the two sides were fairly evenly matched through the first 20 minutes of play, committing 11 turnovers apiece while SVC held just a 26-24 advantage on the boards. Wheelock had the upper hand in field goal percentage with a 43.3 clip as opposed to SVC's 33.3, but the Mountaineers were more efficient at the charity stripe, going 9-for-12 while the Wildcats were just 13-of-23.
Both teams continued to battle back-and-forth after play resumed with WC finding itself up 49-46 at the 16:26 mark following another Woods layup. At that point, however, Southern Vermont took to a 13-0 run to give the Mountaineers their first lead since the early stages of the contest. The SVC perimeter game came up huge as three players drained treys during that run, paving the way to a 50.0 percent three-point percentage in the half. Southern Vermont was able to hold that cushion for the remainder of the game as Wheelock would cut the lead to seven a handful of times, but never any less.
Despite being in foul trouble, the Mountaineer forwards kept hitting the boards and putting in the high-percentage shots en route to the 79-66 victory which helped the program surpass its win total from a year ago.
MacKenzie (16 points, 11 rebounds) and McDonald (12 points, 11 rebounds) each finished with a double-double while sophomore forward Javasha White (Schenectady, N.Y.) grabbed a game-best 12 rebounds off the bench. Dow and junior captain Jyline Varin (Sharon Springs, N.Y.) each added eight points in the win.
Garvey ended the day with 17 points and five rebounds, and freshman guard Amber Tudor (Bronx, N.Y.) followed with 10 points and seven boards. Ramsey totaled eight points, three rebounds and two steals off the Wildcat bench.
Despite shooting just a 36.4 percent clip from the field, the Mountaineers finished with a 41.7 percentage from beyond the arc while WC shot just 37.5 percent from field goal range, 16.7 percent on three-pointers. Southern Vermont made the most of the 24 Wheelock turnovers, scoring 22 points off the giveaways while adding 21 second-chance points.
The Mountaineers (4-9, 2-4 NECC) return to action Tuesday with a 5:30 p.m. NECC tip at Mitchell College while Wheelock (1-11, 0-6) travels to Regis College Tuesday for a 6 p.m. start.