WBB Closes Regular Season With Eighth Straight NECC Win

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College women's basketball team closed out the regular season with a 62-50 victory over Becker College on Saturday afternoon in New England Collegiate College action at the Yarnall Athletic Center.

The Mariners (15-9 overall) won their final eight league contests to finish tied for second place in the NECC standings. Mitchell will host a first round game in the 2016 NECC Championship on Tuesday, February 23. A complete bracket with seeds and game times will be released by the conference by the end of the weekend.

Amanda Garcia and Samantha Ryan each posted double-doubles on Senior Day to lead the Mariners. Garcia finished with a game-high 16 points to go with 10 rebounds while Ryan added 10 points and 11 boards. Mitchell never trailed in the contest and took advantage of a 60-30 edge on the glass to overcome 32-percent shooting.

Avrie Bassingthwaite came off the bench to score 13 points to lead Becker (7-18 overall, 6-12 NECC). Ciara McKissick chipped in 12 points and six rebounds while Tanaisha Espino added 11 points and five boards.   

Mitchell scored the first 14 points of the contest as all six seniors contributed points. Becker finally got on the scoreboard with 2:27 remaining in the quarter on a jumper by Erin Gaudette, and McKissick added a second field goal moments later.

Trailing 17-7 after the opening quarter, the Hawks came out firing in the second and immediately cut into the deficit. Becker scored the first seven points of the stanza and trailed by three after only two minutes. However, Mitchell responded with seven straight of its own to push the margin back to double digits.

Becker cut the margin to five with 42 seconds to play in the half, but a layup by Ryan beat the halftime buzzer and put Mitchell on top 28-21 at the break. Despite shooting only 28 percent in the half, the Mariners attempted nearly three times as many field goals (43-15) thanks to a 33-13 rebounding advantage.

Mitchell outscored Becker 16-14 in the third quarter to lead 44-35 heading into the final period. The Hawks used an 8-2 start to the fourth quarter to pull within three following a three-point play by Gabrielle Gallo with 7:11 to go in the contest. That would be as close as things would get, however, as the Mariners later used an 8-0 run to pull away for good. Diamond Thomas, Ryan, Toshina Jessamy and Garcia scored on consecutive possessions to put Mitchell on top 58-46 with 2:30 to go.

Mitchell's big game on the boards came courtesy of a team effort, as Chelsea Newman came off the bench to grab 11 rebounds while Jessamy added nine. The Mariners finished the game with season highs in offensive rebounds (32), total boards (60) and rebounding differential (+30).

Prior to the game the Mariners honored Savannah Boyle, Thomas, Ryan, Jessamy, Garcia and Newman in a special ceremony. The group accounted for 53 of the team's 62 points in the game. Thomas finished with nine points and six assists while Jessamy added eight points and Boyle chipped in with six.