Women's Basketball Makes It Four Straight at Newbury

BROOKLINE, Mass. – The Mitchell College women's basketball team picked up its fourth straight win by a 66-59 at Newbury College on Wednesday night in New England Collegiate Conference action.

Junior forward Amanda Garcia netted a career-high 29 points to go along with 14 rebounds as the Mariners (5-9 overall) improved to 5-3 in NECC action. Sophomore guard Jessica Shepherd chipped in with 11 points and went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, and classmate Samantha Ryan came off the bench to add 10 points and 10 boards. Garcia's double-double was her team-leading seventh of the season while Ryan posted her third.

After the Mariners jumped out to the early five-point advantage, Katelyn Roeser ignited a 9-2 run as the Nighthawks took a 14-7 lead. Janetis Cardona connected on back-to-back-to-back treys during the stretch as momentum quickly swung over to the Newbury bench.

Midway through the period, Cardona gave the Nighthawks their largest lead of the game with a lay-up to extend the margin to 20-10. But the Mariners kept chipping away, cutting the lead down to five twice before Roeser knocked down a pair of free throws to put the Nighthawks back up by 10 with under six minutes remaining in the half. Newbury went into the break with a 33-28 lead.

The Mariners came out firing to start the second half. Junior guard Diamond Thomas connected with Garcia twice for easy lay-ups in the paint to give Mitchell a 34-33 lead, its first since the opening minutes of the contest. Two minutes later, Destiny Spears converted a three-point play to give Newbury the lead back.

The two teams exchanged leads for the next two minutes before Ryan sparked a 6-0 run, and the Mariners vaulted out to a 44-39 lead that they would never relinquish. Late in the half, senior forward Dazjavia Williams knocked down a jumper with under five minutes to play to give the Mariners their largest lead of the game at 53-43.

Newbury dropped to 3-11 overall and 3-6 in the conference while Mitchell improves to 5-9 and 5-3 in the NECC. Roeser shot 9-for-18 from the floor and finished with a career-high 24 points to lead the Nighthawks. Cardona also reached the 20-point plateau, tallying 20 points – 11 in the first half – while continuing to be a pest on defense with five rebounds and two steals.

Mitchell returns to action at home against Becker College on Saturday, January 24 at 3:30 p.m.