Box Score NEW LONDON, N.H. – January 7, 2014 – Senior Alyssa Leonard (Amherst, Mass.) poured in a game-high 21 points to lead the Castleton women's basketball team to a 70-53 road win at Colby-Sawyer in North Atlantic Conference (NAC) action on Tuesday evening.
BOX SCORE
The Spartans improve to 9-1 overall and 4-0 in the conference standings. Castleton will play at Lyndon on Thursday with a 7:30 p.m. tip. Colby-Sawyer drops to 4-6 overall and 3-1 in the NAC and will host Maine-Farmington on Friday evening at 7:30 p.m.
Leonard went 6-15 from the floor and 7-8 from the free throw line, while adding a game best nine rebounds. Senior Heather Murdough (Hillsboro, N.H.) was the only other Spartan in double figures with 12. She also added nine rebounds. Senior Shelby LaBarge (St. Albans, Vt.) added nine points, eight rebounds and a game-high seven steals in 27 minutes off the bench.
Colby-Sawyer was led by
Ashley Fruzzetti's (Carver, Mass.) 14 points. She knocked down four three-pointers to give her 149 career makes, which is one shy of fifth most all-time. Sophomore
Jessica Shenkel (Sharon, Mass.) also made four treys for 12 points. Junior
Kelsey Bragdon (Wells, Maine) collected seven rebounds and a game-high five blocked shots.
Colby-Sawyer held a one point lead midway through the first half at 13-12 after a pair of
Katie McCarthy (Mansfield, Mass.) free throws. The Spartans scored the next 11 points in a four-minute span to take a 23-13 advantage. A
Katie McCarthy three cut the Colby-Sawyer deficit to five points, but the visitors ended the frame on a 12-3 run capped by a Stephanie Bull (Milton, Vt.) jumper on the last possession. Castleton scored 15 points off 13 Colby-Sawyer turnovers in the half to take a 37-23 lead at the break.
The Spartans held a double figure lead over the first three minutes of the second frame, before back-to-back three pointers by
Jessica Shenkel pulled the Chargers within eight. With the game at 46-36 in favor of the visitors, Heather Murdough scored five points and Ali Jones (Poultney, Vt.) added a trey to give Castleton its biggest lead of the game at 53-36 with 11:37 left.
Fruzzetti then sparked the Colby-Sawyer offense with five points in a 9-0 run to pull within eight points at 9:24, but that would be as close as the Chargers would get. Castleton held Colby-Sawyer to one field goal in the final four and a half minutes and made six free throws in that stretch to take the 70-53 victory.
Castleton controlled the glass with a 48-36 advantage, which resulted in a 20-4 edge in second chance points.
