NEW LONDON, N.H. – January 24, 2015 – The Colby-Sawyer College women's basketball team cruised to a 75-45 victory over intrastate rival New England College in North Atlantic Conference (NAC) action on Saturday afternoon.

Colby-Sawyer won its third straight game and improved to 10-6 overall and 7-3 in the NAC. The Chargers travel to Norwich on Monday for a 7:00 p.m. tip as coach Martin looks for his 400th career victory. New England College dropped its second straight game to fall to 13-4 overall and 7-3 in the conference. The Pilgrims will host Maine-Farmington on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Colby-Sawyer sophomore Kristin Ellis (South Easton, Mass.) filled the stat sheet with a career-high 20 rebounds to go along with seven points, four steals, four assists and a pair of blocks. Sophomore Lexi Iannone (North Haven, Conn.) led the Chargers in scoring with 16 points on 6-6 shooting from the floor and 4-4 from beyond the arc. Junior Katie McCarthy (Mansfield, Mass) and freshman Amanda Calvo (South Deerfield, Mass.) added 12 and 11 points, respectively.  

The conference's third leading scorer Kayla Lawlor (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) from NEC was held to one field goal in nine attempts, but finished with a team best nine points after a 7-of-8 performance at the free throw line. First year Morgan Beechum (Peekskill, N.Y.) added seven points in five minutes. Sophomore Marissa Kopacz (Belchertown, Mass.) grabbed a team best nine rebounds off the bench.

The Chargers were strong on both ends of the court in the first half as the defense held the Pilgrims to 24 percent shooting and the offense made 17-of-34 attempts. Lexi Iannone was 4-4 from the floor and 2-2 from beyond the arc in six minutes of action before getting in foul trouble. She still led all scorers in the first half with 10 points. Colby-Sawyer also used 15 NEC miscues and turned them into a 15-2 advantage in points off turnovers.

Trailing 42-19 at the break, the Pilgrims received a basket from Utshana Durham (Brooklyn, N.Y.) to begin the second half, but that was as close as NEC would get to the Chargers. Colby-Sawyer's lead ballooned to 35 after an Ellis jumper with 8:58 remaining. The Chargers had a 47-34 edge on the glass en route to the 75-45 final.

NEC and Colby-Sawyer have two of the highest number roster sizes in the league and every healthy player appeared in the contest, which was a total of 35.