NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College women's basketball team dropped a 74-57 decision to Regis College on Tuesday night in a New England Collegiate Conference contest at the Yarnall Athletic Center.
Regis (15-4 overall, 12-0 NECC) scored the first six points of the game and never trailed en route to its third straight win. Claire Ramonas led the Pride with 18 points on 6-for-8 shooting and fell one rebound shy of a double-double. Mitchell freshman Sheanna James led all scorers with 19 points and had four steals.
Regis took a 17-6 lead on a three-pointer by Stephanie Crawford with 13:15 to go in the first half, but Mitchell responded with eight straight points to pull within three. James sparked the run with a pair of jumpers while junior Rebecca Tabak and freshman Zilka Navarro also contributed buckets.
The Pride answered back with a 7-0 run to push the lead back to double digits. Leah Murphy bookended the run with jumpers and left Regis with a 24-14 lead with 7:45 remaining. The Pride pumped the lead to as many as 17 in the later stages of the stanza and led 40-25 at the break. Ramanos led all scorers at intermission with 13 points while James had 11.
The Mariners started the second half strong, getting a three-pointer from Navarro and a lay-up by senior Bianca Young to cut the deficit to 10. But the Pride never let the lead slip to single digits and eventually built the margin to as many as 28 before the final buzzer.
Murphy finished with 16 points on 7-for-11 shooting while Crawford added 10 points and four assists. Regis shot only 36 percent from the floor but cashed in on 27 trips to the free throw line for 21 points. The Pride also forced 24 turnovers on defense, the majority coming in the first half thanks to a full-court press that flustered the Mariners.
Young and Navarro also scored in double figures for Mitchell with 16 and 15 points, respectively. Young pulled down nine rebounds while sophomore Cora Harris hit the glass for eight. The Mariners shot 41 percent from the floor and went 7-for-14 from beyond the arc.
Mitchell will next play at Newbury College on Thursday, February 2 at 5 p.m.