CASTLETON, Vt. – The Spartans were outscored by just one point over the final three quarters, but an early deficit was too much to overcome as they fell to 18th ranked Williams 58-45 on Tuesday evening in Glenbrook Gym.
Castleton trailed 24-12 after one quarter but was outscored just 34-33 during the final 30 minutes while shooting 29.8 percent from the floor to drop to 8-3 overall. Williams, meanwhile, shot 36.5 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Spartans 40-38 to improve to 11-1 on the year.
Junior Lindsay Sabo was the only Castleton player in double figures, making four triples on the way to 14 points, two rebounds and two assists. Ali Jones added five points, four rebounds and four steals while Amanda Beatty chipped in six rebounds, three points and two blocks off the bench.
Lauren McCall led theEphs with 16 points, four rebounds and one block while Amanni Fernandez impressed with 13 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Devon Caveney was also in double figures with 12 points, five rebounds and three steals.
Castleton jumped out to an early 6-5 lead on a pair of Sabo shots from downtown in the opening 2:20. However, Williams responded with seven straight points to take back the lead. Taylor Raichemade a layup to stem the run, though the Ephs kept pushing and stretched their lead to 24-10 with two minutes left. A layup by Jones in the final 90 seconds trimmed the deficit to 12 points.
In the second, the Spartans limited Williams to just five points in the first 5:30, while scoring nine to trail just 29-21. The Ephs locked down and then kept Castleton scoreless until the final seconds of the half to go into the break with a 34-23 advantage.
Williams pushed its lead to 17 points early in the third quarter but the Spartans didn't give up and pulled back within 14 on a 5-0 spurt by Sabo with two minutes left. They trimmed the lead to 11 on a three from Makayla Farrara with 54 seconds left, but a late bucket by the Ephs made it 48-35 at the end of the period.
The teams traded baskets over the first three minutes of the fourth, before Caveney connected on a layup for the 55-41 lead at 6:29. Castleton cut the deficit to 12 with 4:28 on a Raiche bucket to make it 55-43, but the team scored just one basket over the final four minutes to fall by 13 points.
The Spartans return to action on Saturday when they travel to face nearby Green Mountain on Saturday at 1 pm.