Nashua, N.H. - Senior captain center Mackenzie Griffin (Stamford, Conn.) recorded her eighth double-double of the season to lead the Trinity College women's basketball team to a 64-51 victory on Thursday night at Rivier University in Nashua. The Bantams improve to 9-1 on the season while the Raiders fall to 5-6 overall.
The first quarter was dominated by the Bantams who led 17-9 after the first 10 minutes of action. However the Raiders outscored the visitors 13-6 in the second quarter to cut Trinity's lead to one, with the halftime score 23-22 in favor of the Bantams. Trinity shot just 27.6% from the field after two quarters, including 2-8 from three-point land. Griffin led Trinity in the first half with 10 points on 4-11 shooting and eight rebounds, while Rivier junior Savanna Butterfield (Londonderry, N.H.) had eight points and 12 boards. Rivier committed 10 turnovers in the first half as both teams pulled down 19 rebounds.
The game remained close in the early minutes of the third quarter until Trinity opened up a 10 point lead thanks to an old fashioned three-point play by senior forward Melanie Mills (Woodstock, Conn.). The Bantams took their largest lead of the game with less than a minute left in the third quarter after a pair of free-throws by Griffin gave the team a 47-34 lead heading into the final quarter of play.
Rivier came out firing in the fourth quarter, down 13, but the Bantams were able to keep up the whole way, each team scoring 17 points in the fourth. The Raiders cut Trinity's lead to nine with less than five minutes to play, however a pair of threes from senior captain guard Christina Raiti (Plainview, N.Y.) and timely free throws from Griffin and freshman forward Erin Cunningham (Wilton, Conn.) kept the lead at 10 as the Bantams came out on top, 64-51.
Griffin finished the evening with a game-high and season-high 30 points on 11-21 shooting and 14 rebounds. Mills finished with a season-high 13 points and added eight boards as well. Senior captain guard Lexi Menard (Wallingford, Conn.) who is second in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) in asssists, dished out nine helpers to go along with three points. For Rivier, Butterfield finished with a team-high 13 points and pulled down a game-high 17 rebounds. Junior Rebecca DeBaldo (Pelham, N.H.) added 11 points as well, making 5-6 of her free-throws. As a team, Trinity out-rebounded Rivier 36-30, and held the Raiders to 31.1% shooting from the field.
Trinity returns to action on Sunday, January 10, when they travel to Williams for their NESCAC opener. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.