WATERVILLE, Maine – Sophomore guard Alyssa Leonard (Amherst, Mass.) narrowly missed a triple-double with 17 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists as Castleton State College cruised to a 72-44 win over Thomas College in North Atlantic Conference (NAC) women's basketball action Saturday afternoon at the Larry Mahaney Gymnasium.
 
Freshman guard Alyssa Moore (Rutland, Vt.) added a career-high 17 points on 6-for-12 shooting, leading a Spartan bench that contributed 33 points. Vanessa Powers (Marshfield, Vt.) added nine points, and Heather Murdough (Hillsboro, N.H.) added eight points and six boards in a reserve role, each going 4-for-5 from the field.
 
Karin Bird (Lee, Maine) scored a team-high 21 points to pace the Terriers.
 
Castleton forced the Terriers into 33 turnovers, and shot 46.3% from the field, piling up 23 assists on 31 field goals.
 
The Spartans were unable to pull away early on thanks in large part to 15 first-half points from Bird. Castleton held a 30-19 lead with just less than three minutes remaining before halftime, and closed the opening stanza on an 11-0 run to take a commanding 41-19 edge into the interval. Moore started the run with five-straight points and Leonard finished it off with six in a row.
 
Castleton controlled the second half, stretching its lead to as many as 30 on several occasions before settling into the final 72-44 margin.
 
Castleton moves to 5-1 overall to go alongside its perfect 2-0 mark in conference play, while Thomas falls to 1-5, 1-1.
 
The Spartans are off until next Friday when they begin a two-game NAC home stand, squaring off with two-time defending conference champion Husson on Friday at 7:30.