BENNINGTON, Vt. – A solid second half was not enough to overcome the deficit created in the first Tuesday evening as the Southern Vermont College women's basketball team fell 82-59 to New England College in non-conference action at the Mountaineer Athletic Center.
The Pilgrims ran out to a 23-9 lead by the end of the opening quarter before going into the locker room on top 44-19. SVC—which completed a busy stretch of three games in four days—came back and outscored NEC by six in the third, but New England was able to maintain its advantage through the remainder and close out the contest.
The Mountaineers (1-5) now look to their final game before the start of the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) schedule—that being a 5 p.m. Friday matchup at Mass. College of Liberal Arts. NEC—a team set to join the NECC next year—is next in action on Saturday when the Pilgrims visit Castleton University to begin their final North Atlantic Conference slate with a 1 p.m. tip against the Spartans.
Southern Vermont was led in the points column by junior Maddy Main (Bennington, Vt.) who dropped a game-high 20 while adding six rebounds and four steals to her line. Freshman Brenna Hudson (Malone, N.Y.) followed with 13 points and a team-best seven boards, and sophomore Taylor Mallett (Berwick, Maine) registered 11 points and six steals in the effort.
NEC went deep into its bench with 10 players seeing reserve time and a total of nine Pilgrims getting in on the scoring. Sophomore Renee Hudson (Gallatin, Tenn.) had a team-high 20 points to go along with her five rebounds and five assists, and classmate Jada Black (Concord, N.C.) added 15 points and five boards for the visitors. Fellow sophomore Daleia Boutwell (Dorchester, Mass.) chipped in with 14 points and another five rebounds as classmate Haleigh Martin (Bergenfield, N.J.) pulled down a game-best eight rebounds in addition to scoring six points.
New England went 34-69 (49.3 percent) from the floor as SVC shot 39.3 percent (24-61) from field goal range. The Pilgrims held a strong 52-25 advantage in rebounds to outscore Southern Vermont 21-9 in second-chance points.
Mountaineer sophomore Sarah Poirier (Ferrisburgh, Vt.) drilled a triple for the first basket of the game to give the hosts the early edge, and Main then knocked down a jumper to keep her team up by three about a minute later. 12 unanswered points from the Pilgrims, however, put NEC in the drivers' seat with a lead it would never relinquish; Rene Hudson had five points in that stretch while Boutwell added another four. The two sides traded baskets in the final minute as New England went up by 14 before the buzzer.
After Southern Vermont scored the opening four points of the second quarter to get within 10, a Rene Hudson trey sparked a 13-2 NEC run which included an and-1 play from the sophomore and 3-pointer from Martin. A pair of back-to-back triples from the visitors made it a 42-17 game with 1:33 left in the half, and each side got a layup to go for that difference to hold at the break.
SVC got some momentum together once play resumed as the Mountaineers chipped into their deficit with the first six points of the third. Southern Vermont would then score eight unanswered behind three points from both Brenna Hudson and Poirier for the hosts to make it a 14-point game. NEC was able to start connecting at the latter end of the period, however, as Black provided seven points to power a quarter-closing 8-3 spurt.
Southern Vermont notched eight-straight points midway through the fourth with junior captain Kayla Emmi (Syracuse, N.Y.) and sophomore Dani Biggers (Broadalbin, N.Y.) each knocking down a triple to get within 13. The Mountaineers wouldn't get any closer the rest of the way, however, as New England once again had the answer to extend its upper hand and close out the win.
– #LetsGoSVC –