January 8, 2008

Castleton wins fourth straight, 52-44 over Norwich

Castleton, VT-Mary Nienow scored a game-high 14 points, including four consecutive points with six minutes remaining in the game to lead the Castleton State College women’s basketball team to a 52-44 non-conference win over Norwich University. The Spartans received scoring contributions from nine different players and improved to 5-5 on the season.

Norwich was led by Erica Rate with 11 points, while Ally Daniels added 10 points and six assists for the 1-10 Cadets.

Castleton took a 26-24 lead into halftime, but saw it evaporate quickly as Rate drained a pair of three-pointers to start the second-half and give the Cadets the lead. Both teams would battle back-and-forth, with neither team gaining a larger advantage than four until Nienow put the Spartans on top for good. With just under six minutes remaining the junior guard jumped the passing lane for a steal and uncontested lay-up to give Castleton a one-point edge 38-37. On the next trip down Nienow drained her fourth three-pointer of the game and Castleton never trailed again.

Junior forward, Melissa Verrill followed Nienow in the scoring column with nine points and eight rebounds. Norwich’s Jess Jaggars added nine points and nine rebounds.

Castleton will travel to Becker College on Friday, January 11 for an 8:00 pm North Atlantic Conference match-up. Norwich will host GNAC foe, Emerson at 1:00 pm on Saturday, Januray 12. [Box Score]

###Spartans###