BENNINGTON, Vt. – Keeping its postseason hopes alive, the Southern Vermont College women's basketball team defeated Newbury College 58-53 Saturday afternoon at the Mountaineer Athletic Center in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) play.
Down 47-40 with 6:11 to go, the Mountaineers took to a 12-0 run over the next three and half minutes of action with help from a six-for-six team performance at the free throw line. Newbury would regain the lead late with back-to-back baskets, but Southern Vermont closed out the last 23 seconds with six unanswered points and a huge blocked Nighthawk three-point attempt by SVC sophomore forward Kala MacKenzie (Fair Haven, Vt.) for the win.
Four Mountaineers recorded double-digit points with sophomore forward Sarah McDonald (Cohoes, N.Y.) leading the way with 19. Newbury senior captain Katie Haney (Winchendon, Mass.) topped all players with game-highs of 20 points and 11 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season.
Sophomore captain Amber Flagg (Windsor, Conn.) follow McDonald in scoring on the Southern Vermont side with 13, adding a game-best nine assists and five steals on her day. Sophomore guards Javasha White (Schenectady, N.Y.) and Mariah Anthony (Northfield, Mass.) chipped in with 10 points apiece to go with eight rebounds and three steals, respectively. Flagg and MacKenzie each had a team-high eight boards for the hosts with the latter blocking three NC shots in the effort.
Haney added six steals and four assists to her line while freshman guard Janetis Cardona (Southbridge, Mass.) just missed out on a double-double with nine rebounds and nine steals; she also had four points and five assists on the afternoon. Sophomore guard Alex Pezzella (Rockland, Mass.) notched 12 points for the Nighthawks and dished out five helpers.
Southern Vermont was a sterling 18-for-20 (90.0 percent) from the free throw line on the day including conversions on its final 15 attempts of the game. Contrary, the Nighthawks struggled with their trips to the charity stripe, connecting on just 8-of-20 (40.0 percent) tries. The two sides were even on the boards with 49 rebounds apiece, and Newbury took advantage of the 27 SVC turnovers with a resulting 25 points from the giveaways. However, NC shot just 27.4 percent (20-73) from the floor, and Southern Vermont's paint play was more effective with the Mountaineers outscoring the Nighthawks 28-18 in the key.
A low-scoring first half saw both sides hard-pressed to get into any kind of offensive rhythm with a layup by Anthony cutting the Nighthawk lead to 10-9 with 6:32 to go in the opening period. Following misses and turnovers on both ends, things started to open up for the two teams as they more-than-doubled that score in the final five minutes of the frame. Newbury extended its lead to seven (16-9) after a lay-in by senior Kwanasia Fredericks (Harlem, N.Y.), but the Mountaineers responded with an 8-2 run capped by a McDonald layup to make it an 18-17 contest. The Nighthawks closed the half with a 6-2 edge including a layup by Haney with just a few seconds to go as they took a 24-19 lead into the locker room.
Haney led all players at the break with 10 points while McDonald was on her heels with nine for SVC. Flagg had five of her assists and four steals in the first, and Cardona and Haney each swiped four steals in the stanza for the visitors.
In the second half, Newbury looked to live by the three early on as the first three baskets for the Nighthawks came from beyond the perimeter including a Pezella trey at 17:12 that gave NC its largest lead of the game, a 33-22 advantage. McDonald took over the next five minutes, scoring eight unanswered to cut it to 33-30 at the 12:10 mark. Haney continued to be effective for the Nighthawks, getting a jumper to go to put NC ahead 40-34. After a Flagg foul allowed Cardona to hit two free throws and give Newbury a 45-36 advantage, Southern Vermont started a 16-2 run to get itself back in the game and regain the lead. The Mountaineers were a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line during that stretch.
The Nighthawks proved resilient, however, and scored the next six points to go back on top to lead 53-52 with 45 seconds to go; NC forced three consecutive SVC turnovers in that time while Haney got inside for a pair of layups and sophomore Jovanna Sandifer (Boston, Mass) knocked down the go-ahead jumper.
Coming out of a timeout, Flagg found White at the top of the key with a good look. She put up a shot that took a bounce high off the glass and found the friendly touch to go and give the lead back to the Mountaineers. A Cardona go-ahead miss forced the Nighthawks to foul, but Flagg would not let the pressure make an effect as she sunk both ends of the one-and-one for the 56-53 edge.
Newbury used a timeout to draw up a three-point play that saw Fredericks try to tie the game from the right side, but MacKenzie was there to deny the shot. Haney grabbed the carom with time left on the clock but was subsequently called for the offensive foul. A technical foul assessed to the Newbury bench allowed Flagg to return to the line, hitting both to put the game away with the 58-53 final.
The Mountaineers (5-15, 3-10 NECC) try to keep it rolling Tuesday when they visit Becker College for a 6 p.m. tip. Newbury (4-14, 4-8 NECC) also takes to the road on Tuesday as the Nighthawks pay Wheelock College a 7:30 p.m. visit.