BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The Southern Vermont College women's basketball team collected its first win of the season on Saturday as the Mountaineers defeated Medgar Evers College 58-49 at Cougars Cave in the first round of MEC's Dr. Betty Shabazz Tournament.
The visiting Mountaineers held a one-point edge after the opening 10 minutes, but the Cougars then outscored SVC by five in the second quarter to bring a 27-23 lead into halftime. A strong third put Southern Vermont up 41-34 heading into the last period, and the visitors padded their advantage from the free throw line late in the fourth to finish off the victory.
SVC (1-3) will take on SUNY Old Westbury at 3 p.m. on Sunday for the Shabazz title. Old Westbury defeated the College of New Rochelle, 95-69, in the opening game of the tournament on Saturday.
The Mountaineers were led by a strong performance from junior Maddy Main (Bennington, Vt.) who notched 19 points and 19 rebounds—both of those being game highs and giving her a third-straight double-double.
Southern Vermont sophomore Sarah Poirier (Ferrisburgh, Vt.) had 17 points and 12 rebounds—both of those being career bests—and she also swatted eight Cougar shots. Classmate Taylor Mallett (Berwick, Maine) tallied 14 points and seven rebounds, and freshman Brenna Hudson (Malone, N.Y.) chipped in with 10 rebounds and seven points in the win.
SVC went 20-69 (29 percent) from field goal range as Medgar Evers connected on 24 percent (18-75) of its attempts from the floor. The Mountaineers had a strong 65-48 advantage in rebounds, and they outscored MEC 19-16 in second-chance points.
Baskets went back-and-forth off the tip with neither team able to grab a sizable lead. A Cougar jumper was answered on the ensuing possession by a Mallett layup, and four minutes of scoreless action followed before a final pair of scores put SVC up 10-9 going into the second quarter.
Medgar Evers grabbed the first six points of the next stanza to go in front by five—only to see Poirier and Main registered back-to-back buckets to keep it close. The Cougars followed with six more unanswered points before Poirier dropped a shot from the outside, and she would soon-after hit a jumper to make it just a 25-23 edge for the hosts with 1:58 to go. The only scoring in the rest of the stanza was a pair of MEC free throws for the Cougars to bring a four-point lead into the locker room.
After Medgar Evers scored the first basket of the third frame, Southern Vermont took control and went on a 9-2 run highlighted by five Poirier points and an old-fashioned 3-point play from Main. MEC pulled ahead at 34-33 with 3:05 left in the quarter, but that would be the last Cougar score of the period as the Mountaineers went in front for good. SVC scored eight unanswered points in the final three minutes of the third with four Mountaineers finding the bottom of the bucket to help their team go ahead 41-34.
The Cougars scored six of the first eight points of the final quarter to get within two, but the visitors stormed to a 10-0 run to garner some breathing room; Main had six of those points while Hudson chipped in with another four.
The Mountaineers weren't quite out of the woods, however, as Medgar Evers came back with nine-straight to cut it down to a 53-49 SVC upper hand with 2:33 on the clock. Southern Vermont worked itself to the free throw line where the team closed out the win—notching the final five points from the charity stripe while keeping MEC scoreless to finish off the victory.
– #LetsGoSVC –