CASTLETON, Vt. - January 6, 2015 - The Colby-Sawyer women's basketball team was defeated at Castleton, 56-41 in North Atlantic Conference (NAC) action on Tuesday evening. 

The Chargers fall to 5-5 overall and 2-2 in the NAC. Colby-Sawyer heads to Maine for a pair of games this weekend, beginning on Friday at UMaine-Farmington. Castleton improves to 8-2 overall and 5-0 in conference play. 

Freshman Amanda Calvo led the Chargers with nine points off the bench. Kelsey Cahill filled up the stat sheet with eight points, nine rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals. Cahill moved into 13th on the all-time scoring list with 1,012 points and moved into seventh in career blocks with 107. Jessica Shenkel chipped in with six points and a career-high seven rebounds.

Jade Desroches led Castleton with seven steals, three blocked shots and  a team-high 19 points. The senior shot 6-for-14 from the floor, including 4-for-8 from downtown as the team shot just 31.7 percent from the floor overall. However, Castleton held the Chargers to just 26.4 percent shooting and forced 25 turnovers. Colby-Sawyer did outrebound the Spartans 47-35.

In addition to Desroches, Meghan O'Sullivan and Lindsay Sabo both reached double figures with ten points apiece. O'Sullivan added five rebounds, three assists and two blocks while Sabo pulled down three boards.

Castleton jumped out to a 5-0 advantage in the opening two minutes but Colby-Sawyer held the Spartans scoreless over the next six minutes to even up the game five apiece. O'Sullivan hit a pair of free throws to break the draw and Castleton then extended its lead to 11-5. Kelsey Cahill eventually pulled the Chargers back within two, 14-12, on a layup at 7:23. Desroches countered with a personal 8-3 run to push the lead to 22-15 with 4:38. Colby-Sawyer closed the gap to 22-18 in the final minute, but Lindsay Sabo drilled a three from the wing with 20 seconds left to give the Spartans a 25-18 advantage at the break.

Colby-Sawyer started strong in the second and used a 7-4 run to close within four on a pair of Salvo baskets for a 29-25 contest with 13:24 remaining. The teams traded baskets before Sabo drilled a triple for the 34-27 advantage. Desroches then jumped a passing lane and took it in for the fastbreak layup and Amanda Beatty did the same just 12 seconds later to push Castleton lead to 38-27 with 10:51 left. Cahill stemmed the run a minute later, but eight more points including a pair of triples from Desroches extended it to 46-29 at 7:14. The Chargers could not muster a major run for the remainder of the contest and fell 56-41.