Strong Start Leads WBB Past Southern Vermont

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College women's basketball team made it a season sweep over Southern Vermont College, winning 68-54 on Saturday afternoon in New England Collegiate Conference action at the Yarnall Athletic Center.

Diamond Thomas led all scorers with 14 points off the bench to pace the Mariners, who won their fourth straight game and improved to 11-8 overall and 10-4 in league play. Chelsea Newman finished with a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds to go with seven steals, and Toshina Jessamy and Amanda Garcia chipped in with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Amber Dow scored 13 points on 6-for-8 shooting to lead Southern Vermont (11-10 overall, 8-6 NECC). Chloe Long added 11 points and eight rebounds while Shaniquewa Barnes contributed 11 points, three steals and two blocks.

Mitchell never trailed as its defense set the tone in the opening quarter. The Mariners nearly pitched a shutout in the stanza, forcing 14 turnovers and holding SVC to 0-for-6 shooting from the floor. It wasn't until the final 12 seconds of period when the Mountaineers got on the scoreboard thanks to a free throw by Ashley Boise. However, Lehayla Cruz banked in a three right before the buzzer to put Mitchell up 18-1 after one.

The Mariners pumped the lead to as many as 27 in the second quarter before taking a 34-12 lead into the locker room at intermission. Southern Vermont committed 22 turnovers in the first half which Mitchell converted into 28 points.

It was a different SVC team that came out for the second half. The Mountaineers scored on seven of their first eight possessions and trimmed the deficit to 15 at 43-28 on a Dow jumper with 5:27 to go in the third quarter. Later in the period, Southern Vermont pulled within single digits when a layup by Barnes made it 45-36 with 2:27 remaining.

A jumper by Garcia put Mitchell back up by 11, and the margin never again dipped into single digits. However, the Mountaineers did outscore the Mariners 27-18 in the stanza to trail 52-39 heading into the fourth.

Jessamy scored eight of her 11 points in the final quarter to keep Mitchell comfortably in front. She shot 3-for-4 from three-point range in the contest and also handed out a pair of assists.

Mitchell did a solid job defensively on SVC's Amber Flagg, who ranked among the NECC leaders in scoring (16.8 ppg) coming into the contest. She battled foul trouble for most of the game and finished with just four points on 1-for-7 shooting.

Mitchell will next play at Johnson & Wales University on Monday, April 8 at 7 p.m. Southern Vermont will next host Daniel Webster College on Wednesday, February 10 at 6 p.m.