NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Southern Vermont College women's basketball began its spring semester of the season on Saturday, falling 54-44 at Mitchell College in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action.
The Mountaineers trailed 27-22 at halftime before MC doubled its lead through the final 20 minutes for the league victory.
SVC (1-8, 1-3 NECC) now looks to a Tuesday Conference contest at Newbury College, tip-off slated for 5:30 p.m.
Leading the way in the points column for Southern Vermont was junior Chloe Longe (Enosburg Falls, Vt.) who tallied 14 to go with her eight rebounds. Mountaineer senior Abbi Molner (Wilmington, Vt.) recorded a game-best nine boards while adding eight points, and freshman Sarah Poirier (Ferrisburgh, Vt.) had six rebounds, three assists and two points on the afternoon.
The Mountaineers edged Mitchell 36.4-23.3 in field goal percentage, going 16-for-44 from the floor. The Mariners pulled down a slim 46-44 advantage in rebounds while using SVC's mishaps for a 29-8 upper hand in points off turnovers.
A jumper by senior captain Amber Dow (Panton, Vt.) put Southern Vermont up by four midway through the opening quarter, and a pair of successful free throws by sophomore Amber Lesure (Cheshire, Mass.) a few minutes later maintained that separation. Mitchell would jump ahead soon-after, however, with three-pointers on back-to-back possessions late in the stanza. Buckets were traded in the final minute as MC went up 12-10 going into the second.
SVC freshman Danielle Biggers (Bronx, N.Y.) drilled a triple in her first collegiate hoops game to trim the Mariners' lead to one, but the hosts hit one of their own before a three-minute scoreless stretch. A Mitchell layup ended the drought and put MC on top by six, only to see Southern Vermont score five unanswered with the help of an old-fashioned three-point play by freshman Taylor Mallett (Berwick, Maine). The final 2:02 of the half saw just four more points get scored, those all being Mariner free throws which set the board at 27-22 for a halftime tally.
Neither side could find the bottom of the basket in the first three minutes of the third, but Longe dropped in a pair of consecutive layups for the Mountaineers to get within four (30-26). That would be when the Mariners started to pull away, however, as they went on a 10-0 into the final minute of the quarter to lead by 14.
Dow, Molner, Longe, and Biggers each connected from short range in the opening five minutes of the quarter while keeping Mitchell scoreless to make it just a 40-37 MC edge. That would be the closest SVC would get the rest of the way as MC regained the momentum and scored 10 more unanswered points to pad their cushion. Five straight by the Mountaineers cut it back to eight, but time would run out on Southern Vermont as the hosting Mariners closed out the victory.
– #LetsGoSVC –