NORTHFIELD, Vt. – It took fourteen games before Mount Ida College got to play a women's basketball game against a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) foe, and on Monday night, the Mustangs were unable to dig themselves out of an early hole, falling 70-43 to the Cadets of Norwich University at Andrews Hall.
Abbey Fedigan (New Fairfield, Conn.) led the way for Mount Ida with 14 points, but Norwich's Aliah Curry (Windsor, Mass.) and Heather LeBlanc (Sanford, Maine), with 19 points apiece, nearly outdid the Green and White on their own.
Mount Ida (3-11, 0-1 GNAC) shot just 17% in the first half, and trailed by twenty points midway through the first half, 24-4, the same deficit they found themselves in at the halftime break. The Mustangs finished the game shooting 16-for-59 (27.1%) and not connecting on any of their seven three-point attempts, though they were 11-13 (84.6%) from the free-throw line.
Norwich (6-7, 1-2 GNAC) shot 45.3% from the field for the game, and outrebounded the Mustangs 46-33, with Erin Clark (Newbury, Vt.) pulling down a game-high 11 caroms to pace the home team, which she paired with seven points.
Katlyn Jesse (Marshfield, Mass.) scored 12 points for the Mustangs and freshman Angelique Martinez (Taunton, Mass.) pulled down nine rebounds to lead Mount Ida.
Norwich added to their lead with a 9-2 run to start the second half, with Leblanc and Curry doing all of the work to give the Cadets a 48-21 advantage. The lead would get as large as 29 points (54-25) before Jesse and Fedigan hit jump shots and Brittany Crosby (Riverside, R.I.) converted a layup.
Martinez and Jenn Rafuse (Brockton, Mass.) each had two assists in the game, while Rafuse and Leslie Campbell (Quincy, Mass.) had four rebounds apiece, with Campbell adding five points off the bench.
Kelsey Lotti (South Yarmouth, Mass.) had ten points for the Cadets, all in the first half, to go with six rebounds. Leblanc had four steals and Kristin Brown (Williamstown, Vt.) dished out four assists.
The Mustangs play their final non-conference game of the season on Wednesday at 6:00 pm when Emerson College visits Mount Ida Athletic Center.
Norwich will stay home to prepare for Thursday night's game when they welcome in-state rivals Middlebury for a tough non-conference affair at 7:00 pm.