BENNINGTON, Vt. — Southern Vermont College's historic season was extended Tuesday night as the Mountaineers defeated visiting Newbury College 80-41 in a first round playoff game of the 2015 New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Women's Basketball Championship tournament at the Mountaineer Athletic Center.
With a win in its first-ever postseason game, third-seeded SVC improves its record to 16-10 while sixth-seeded Newbury finishes the year with an 8-18 overall mark.
The Mountaineers will now head to Regis College on Friday to play No. 2 Elms College at 8 p.m. in the evening's second semifinal matchup; EC defeated No. 7 Daniel Webster College by an 86-48 tally Tuesday night. Top-seeded Regis, which earned the tournament's only bye and is hosting the semifinals and championship rounds, will take on fourth-seeded Mitchell College; MC topped No. 5 Wheelock College 84-65 in another first round game on Tuesday.
Southern Vermont junior captain Amber Flagg (Windsor, Connecticut) scored 14 of her game-high 16 points in the first half to give the Mountaineers a comfortable lead at the break that they would hold until the final buzzer for the win; she added six rebounds and a tie for the game-best of five assists. Freshman Danielle Simmons (Rensselaer, New York) poured in 14 points to go with four rebounds and a pair of helpers off the bench while juniors Sarah McDonald (Cohoes, New York) and Turquoia Johnson (Montgomery Village, Maryland) each registered double-doubles; McDonald had 10 points to go with 11 rebounds, and Johnson also scored 10 points while grabbing a game-best 14 boards. Fellow junior Javasha White (Schenectady, New York) chipped in with another 11 rebounds while scoring eight points in the victory.
Captain Katelyn Roeser (Nashua, New Hampshire) passed her way into the Newbury record book, notching five assists to make her the all-time Nighthawk career assists leader at 256 through just her junior season; she surpasses Katelyn Mark who finished her tenure at NC with 255 in 2010. Roeser also led Newbury with nine points while grabbing five rebounds in the effort. Three Nighthawks recorded eight points, including freshman Destiny Spears (Arnold, Maryland) who added a team-high nine rebounds and a pair of steals. Junior Jovanna Sandifer (Boston, Massachusetts) also scored eight while collecting five rebounds, and sophomore Brittany Beals (Lawrence, Massachusetts) had eight points and four rebounds off the NC bench.
Southern Vermont shot at a 43.6 percent clip from the floor (34-78) while holding Newbury to a 23.8 field goal percentage (19-80). The Mountaineer front-court controlled the boards with a 70-36 advantage in rebounds, and the hosts committed only six turnovers to the Nighthawk's 15. Offensive caroms led to SVC outscoring Newbury 20-4 in second-chance points, and the Mountaineers doubled up NC's points in the paint by a 48-24 tally.
Mountaineer sophomore captain Amber Dow (Panton, Vermont) took a pass from Flagg on the left side of the court and knocked down a jumper during an 11-2 SVC run early into the action which gave Southern Vermont a comfortable lead (13-4). After Beals hit a shot to close the gap to seven, Flagg took the ball from the right side of the arc, dribbled all the way around the top of the key and down the left side of the paint before laying it in for two. Newbury closed the deficit to 15-10 when Sandifer got a hook shot to go from the right side of the lane while she was falling towards the baseline, but Southern Vermont then scored seven unanswered points to increase its advantage.
Later in the period, NC senior Jamie Vankoeverden (Brooklyn, New York) made a nice cut down low put a backhanded layup off the glass from a tough angle beneath the hoop. Simmons responded, however, by banging home a jumper that sparked an 8-0 SVC run which gave the hosts a comfortable cushion at 32-14 with 6:11 to go in the first half. Southern Vermont offensive rebounds accounted for a pair of scores during that stretch and set-up another not long after as the Mountaineers took a 38-20 lead to the break.
SVC got its momentum going once again quickly into the second half when junior Marissa Myers (Chatham, New York) swished a three-pointer from the right edge of the arc and followed with a blocked shot on the ensuing Nighthawk possession. Roeser would then hit a nothing-but-net shot of her own from the top of the key, and Sandifer banked home a floater in the lane as Newbury fought to get back in the game. Simmons wouldn't allow that, though, as she heated up and started to knock down 15-footers. Her basket at the 11:25 mark began a 14-0 Mountaineer surge that saw the freshman score 10 of those SVC points, putting the game out of Nighthawk reach.
The two sides traded baskets through the final 6:33 of play as Southern Vermont utilized its possessions to run the clock. As time ran out, SVC was finally able to celebrate a postseason victory, in just its first trip to the playoffs in 22 years, with the 80-41 win.