November 20, 2007

Castleton edged out at Plymouth State 54-49

Plymouth, NH-The Castleton State College women's basketball team dropped a hotly contested 54-49 non-conference contest at Plymouth State, falling to 1-2 on the young season.

Junior Mary Nienow led the Spartans with a game-high 14 points and seven rebounds, including three baskets from beyond the three-point arc.  Classmate LeeAnne Ketchen added 11 points and junior Jess Banks chipped in with six points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Freshman, Amanda Kania converted 5-of-11 from the floor, including a pair of three-point baskets, to lead the Panthers with 12 points. Kayla Morin made 5-of-9 field goal attempts from the floor for 10 points while collecting a game-high 10 rebounds to lead Plymouth State to a 3-0 start to the season.

Plymouth State took early control of the game, surging to a 17-5 lead five minutes into the contest. The Spartans responded with eight consecutive points to whittle the margin down to four (17-13), but Plymouth State would answer with a 17-8 run to get the lead back up to 13 points (34-21) with four minutes to play in the half.  Castleton came back once again with the final 11 points of the half to make it a 34-32 Panther lead at the intermission.

There were four lead changes in the first nine minutes of the second half, and the game was tied 43-43 with 11 minutes to play. Plymouth State outscored the Spartans 9-2 over the next six minutes to pull ahead by seven, but again Castleton would not go away. The Spartans got to within three points (52-49) in the final minute, but the Panthers made a pair of free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

Both teams take a break for the Thanksgiving holiday, and will return to action next Tuesday with non-conference in-state encounters.  PSU will visit Granite State rival Colby-Sawyer College (7:00 p.m.) and Castleton State travels to Green Mountain foe Middlebury (5:30 p.m.) [Box Score]

###Spartans###