TROY, N.Y. – A strong defensive effort by the hosting team saw Southern Vermont College open up the 2016-17 women's basketball campaign with a 77-45 loss at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Tuesday night at East Campus Arena.
The Engineers held SVC to just 12 field goals throughout the evening while outscoring the visitors by a 25-8 margin in points off turnovers. RPI took a 46-21 lead into halftime and used a strong third quarter to pull away for the big win in the two sides' first meeting since the 2000-01 season.
The Mountaineers (0-1) now prepare for the Cardinal Classic hosted by SUNY Plattsburgh over the weekend; SVC will take on the Cardinals in the opening round Saturday evening, tipoff slated for 6 p.m. with the winner moving on to Sunday's 3 p.m. championship contest.
Southern Vermont senior Sarah McDonald (Cohoes, N.Y.) led the team with 14 points on a 6-for-12 performance from the floor, adding seven rebounds to her night's line. Freshman Sarah Poirier (Ferrisburgh, Vt.) was all over the stat sheet in her first collegiate contest, nothing 13 points, eight rebounds, four assists, three blocks and three steals; eight of her points came from the free throw line (8-10) while she also added a three-pointer.
Senior captain Amber Dow (Panton, Vt.) also had 13 points for SVC, tallying five boards, two assists and two steals in the effort. Classmate Abbi Molner (Wilmington, Vt.) had four points while grabbing a team-best nine rebounds, all of those being on the defensive glass.
RPI snagged a 50-37 advantage in rebounds, the difference being the Engineers' 13-board edge on the offensive end. The hosts registered a 36.1 field goal percentage (30-83) while limiting SVC to a 27.3 clip from the floor (12-44).
Both sides were a little anxious off the first tip of the season, the opening 3:04 of the contest seeing a combined 13 missed field goal attempts and four turnovers before RPI finally broke the scoreless stalemate. Dow would come back and knock down a trey on the ensuing possession, but the Engineers would then pull back in front with nine unanswered points. Scoring was traded through the last couple minutes of the quarter, a Molner free throw making it a 13-6 lead for the hosts after the opening stanza.
McDonald hit the first two baskets of the second quarter to get SVC within three (13-10), and Poirier would soon-after drill a bucket from downtown to maintain distance. The threes continued for the Mountaineers midway through the frame, Molner knocking down her first since February 15, 2014 to make it just an 18-16 RPI upper hand. The Engineers would slowly pull away over the next five minutes, however, going on an 18-5 run through the end of the half to bring a 15-point lead into the break.
The hosts continued their momentum once play resumed, using three buckets from behind the arc to notch the first 11 points of the third quarter. RPI would score another eight unanswered after a pair of Dow free throws, growing its lead to an extensive margin. Each side dropped in 15 points in the final 10-minute frame as the Engineers closed out the season-opening win; Poirier recorded eight of her points in the last quarter, going six-for-six from the charity stripe.
– #LetsGoSVC –