BENNINGTON, Vt. — The Southern Vermont College women's basketball team continued its historic season with a 59-41 defeat of Wheelock College Saturday afternoon in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action at the Mountaineer Athletic Center.
That win improves SVC's season record to 14-8 overall, tying the program record of wins that was set by the inaugural 1993-94 Mountaineer squad (14-9); Southern Vermont is now 12-3 in NECC action, securing a home game in the first round of the upcoming Conference postseason tournament. Wheelock falls to 11-11 on the year and 9-6 in league play.
Four Mountaineers reached double figures in the points column, three tying the team-high of 12; junior Sarah McDonald (Cohoes, New York) tallied that many to go with her seven rebounds, five assists and two blocks while classmate Amber Flagg (Windsor, Connecticut) also dropped 12, adding a team-best nine rebounds and four assists in the win. Sophomore Abbi Molner (Wilmington, Vermont) also scored 12 points to go with her six boards and two steals, and junior Turquoia Johnson (Montgomery Village, Maryland) followed with 11 points and another nine rebounds off the SVC bench.
Wildcat sophomore Michelle Woods (Wilmington, Massachusetts) set the game-high of 13 points, adding 11 rebounds for the double-double. Freshman Simone Ngongi (New Haven, Connecticut) was a force down low for Wheelock, grabbing a game-high 13 rebounds while swatting seven Mountaineer shots. Sophomore Jamie Grzych (Columbia, Connecticut) chipped in with nine points, four rebounds, four steals and three assists in the effort.
Turnovers were costly for WC as its 23 giveaways made way for 20 SVC points, and adversely, Wheelock only scored three points off the 13 Mountaineer giveaways on the day. The Wildcats owned a slight 58-53 edge on the boards while Southern Vermont outscored the visitors 28-22 in the paint.
Ngongi got Wheelock on the board first with two of her six points, but the Mountaineers took over the lead just minutes later when Flagg spotted up at the top of the arc and nailed a three-pointer for the 5-4 upper hand. Grzych responded with a jumper on the other end to put her team back ahead, but that would be the last time Wheelock led for the rest of the day as Southern Vermont went on a 9-0 run to put some distance between itself and WC.
SVC seemed to have an edge in the post through the opening 10 minutes, using rebounds to continue increasing its separation. Following a Wildcat miss, Mountaineer junior Marissa Myers (Chatham, New York) knocked down a three-ball to give her team the 22-10 lead with 9:13 to go in the first. Wheelock would not go quietly, keeping the game in reach with quality trips down the floor. Grzych drove through the lane and got a nice floater to go, and she then swished a three-pointer from the top of the perimeter to make it a 27-19 SVC lead. Flagg stole some of the Wildcat momentum when she swiped the ball and went the distance for the score, but WC sophomore Kayla Corhsia (Medway, Massachusetts) banked a jumper off the glass to make it 31-21. The Mountaineers would add one more basket before a 2:23 scoreless drought finished the first half, sending Southern Vermont to the break with a 33-21 lead.
SVC forced 12 turnovers in the first period while only giving the ball away five times, leading to a 10-1 advantage in points off turnovers. Flagg scored 10 points in the stanza while Ngongi pulled down nine boards.
Wheelock came out of the locker room and scored the first four points of the half including two that came from sophomore Katie Alsip (Quincy, Massachusetts) who finished a dribble-drive for the bucket. SVC had the answer, however, scoring the next nine unanswered points to push its lead to 42-25. In that stretch, Molner had a great assist when she drew the defense to her beneath the hoop and dished it off to an open McDonald who put it off the backboard for the easy two.
WC continued to fight and eventually cut the lead to 44-34 on a fast-break layup by Corhsia, but the Mountaineers' full-court pressure caused problems and led to two straight Wildcat turnovers in their own end of the court. SVC sophomore captain Amber Dow (Panton, Vermont) took a pass from Flagg and hit a three-pointer with 5:29 left to play, and she followed with another knock-down jumper from the left side to make it 53-37 and all but end it. Southern Vermont walked out with the season sweep of the Wildcats and home-court advantage in the first round of the NECC playoffs on Tuesday, February 24.
Both teams are back in action on Tuesday at 7 p.m. as the Mountaineers host Elms College and the Wildcats visit Daniel Webster College for NECC contests.