Box Score CASTLETON, Vt.- February 12, 2014 - Led by a career-high 21 points from junior Kelsey Cahill (Cumberland, R.I.), the Colby-Sawyer women's basketball team handed Castleton its first conference loss of the year, 66-56 at Glenbrook Gym on Wednesday night.

BOX SCORE

Colby-Sawyer improves to 13-9 overall after winning its seventh straight, and goes to 12-3 in the NAC. With the loss, Castleton falls to 19-3 overall and 14-1 in the NAC. The Chargers host intrastate foe New England College on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.

Cahill was dominant inside for the Chargers and tallied a double-double with a game-high 21 points, as well as a game-high 11 rebounds. Katie McCarthy scored 14 points, including a perfect 8-8 from the charity stripe. Jessica Shenkel also reached double figures with 11 points. 

Alyssa Leonard led Castleton with 13 points, while Shelby LaBarge came off the bench to score 11 points and bring down a team-high seven rebounds. Jade Desroches also notched 11 points, while grabbing four rebounds and dishing off four assists.

The first half was a hard-fought, back and forth contest with six ties and no team leading by more than four. After a Kelsey Cahill layup put the Chargers up 22-19 with just under five minutes left in the half, sophomore Ali Jones put home a three-pointer to tie the game. The next Castleton possession, with the Spartans down by two , Jones came back down and swished another three to give the Spartans a 25-24 lead. Colby-Sawyer buried a pair of late shots to earn a 29-25 halftime lead.

In the second half, the Chargers opened up the first five minutes by going on a 15-4 run. The Spartans answered in the next eight minutes by going on a 15-1 run of their own. Desroches made it a one-point game when she swiped a pass and took it coast-to-coast for a layup, cutting the Colby-Sawyer lead to 45-44.

The Chargers responded by scoring five straight points off a Katie McCarthy three-pointer and a Kelsey Cahill layup. Castleton continued to battle and brought the deficit down to one again after an Alyssa Leonard triple made it 50-49.

Colby-Sawyer held onto the lead outscoring the Spartans 16-7 in the final four minutes to bring the game to its final, 66-56. The Chargers went 12-for-12 from the foul line in the final 3:30 to seal their 12th conference victory of the year.

Castleton shot just 31.3 percent from the floor and 6 of 21 from the three-point line; while Colby-Sawyer was 42 percent from the field and 50 percent from beyond the arc. Colby-Sawyer outrebounded the Spartans 40-34.