Newbury Takes Down WBB

BROOKLINE, Mass. - The Newbury College women's basketball defeated Mitchell College, 68-49, in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action on Tuesday evening. 

Newbury's Catherine O'Connell registered her ninth double-double of the season, netting a game-high 22 points while ripping down 22 rebounds. Senior Kaylee Cerruto led the Mariners with 16 points. 

Junior Kate Mulloy found Cerruto open at the perimeter for a long-range trey to give the Mariners a quick four-point lead 39 seconds into the contest. The lead didn't last long, as the Nighthawks answered with back-to-back buckets by O'Connell and Jere St. Lewis.

It was a tight battle with three lead changes and tie in the opening three minutes, but the Nighthawks began to pull away moments later. After Cerruto regained the lead for Mitchell, O'Connell and Elyse O'Connell rattled off six straight points to give the Nighthawks a 15-10 lead which they would not relinquish for the remainder of the game.

The Mariners were not going to go away quietly. With five minutes remaining in the half, freshman Amanda Garcia cut the deficit to one with a jumper. A minute later, Elyse O'Connell ignited an 11-0 run to send Newbury into the locker room with its largest lead at 29-17.

It was a tale of two periods as the Nighthawks exploded on offense, outscoring the Mariners 39-32 in the second half. Midway through the period, Katelyn Roeser found Alex Pezzella wide open at the perimeter to give Newbury an 18-point cushion at 42-24 with 13 minutes left.

However, Newbury was far from done. With eight minutes remaining in the half, Catherine O'Connell sparked a 9-0 run – which included going 5-for-6 from the charity stripe – to give the Nighthawks their largest lead of the game at 58-35.

Nicole Silvia came two rebounds shy of a double-double, notching 11 points with eight boards. Elyse O'Connell rounded out the Nighthawks in double figures with 10 points while Roeser dished out seven assists.

Cerruto shot 6-for-16 en route to her team-high 16 points. Senior guard Suzie Barbosa came on strong as she rounded out the Mariners in double-figures, netting all of her 11 points in the second half.

Newbury improved to 10-8 with the victory and 8-3 in conference action while Mitchell fell to 3-14 and 3-8 in NECC action. 

Mitchell returns to action at home against Bay Path College on Thursday, January 31 at 6 p.m.