CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – A dominating third quarter helped Southern Vermont College pull ahead before claiming a 53-41 New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's basketball victory over Lesley University at Nicholas Athletic Center Tuesday night.

SVC went into the locker room down 26-20 before outscoring the Lynx by 14 in the third period—holding LU to just four points in that stanza. Southern Vermont then bested Lesley by four in the final 10 minutes to extend its lead and walk out with the win.

The Mountaineers (2-7, 1-1 NECC) are back at home on Saturday for their next game—that being a 1 p.m. NECC tip-off against Wheelock College.

Southern Vermont sophomore Dani Biggers (Broadalbin, N.Y.) tied the game-high of 14 points while adding a night-best 11 rebounds for the double-double. Classmate Taylor Mallett (Berwick, Maine) added another 14 points, five boards, and five assists, and freshman Brenna Hudson (Malone, N.Y.) chipped in with 13 points and three rebounds. Mountaineer junior Maddy Main (Bennington, Vt.) notched nine points, eight rebounds, and three steals in the win.

SVC went 18-49 (36.7 percent) from field goal range while keeping Lesley to a 25 percent (17-68) clip from the floor. The Lynx pulled down a 46-40 upper hand in rebounds to outscore Southern Vermont 18-2 in second-chance points, but the Mountaineers worked their way to the line more often to finish with 14 made free throws to the hosts' five.

After an early Hudson layup tied the game at 2-2, 3:37 of scoreless action ensued as the two sides tried to find their rhythm. Baskets went back-and-forth in the waning minutes of the quarter with Biggers knocking down a three before Lesley pulled to within one on a jumper. LU would then hit a pair from the charity stripe with 28 seconds left in the period to go into the second on top 10-9.

An 8-2 Lesley run to start the next stanza put the hosts in front by seven, and baskets were traded through the frame before Hudson went 1-2 from the line to make it a 26-18 Lynx advantage with 1:27 left in the half. Neither side could find the bottom of the basket the rest of the way as the contest went to intermission with LU still up by eight.

Once play resumed, Southern Vermont seized the momentum and ran out to a 14-0 run to regain the upper hand; Biggers used a trey early in that stretch while Mallett and Hudson each added four points to help their team go up 34-26 and force a Lesley timeout midway through the quarter. Scoring was even at four points apiece through the rest of the period for the game to go to the final 10 minutes with SVC ahead 38-30.

Baskets by Biggers and Mallett in the front-end of the fourth made it a 42-31 difference, but Lesley then hit one from the outside to keep the Mountaineers from pulling away. Biggers dropped her third triple of the night, however, to spark a 10-3, game-ending run—the only Lesley score coming from downtown as Biggers added three more points from the line while her team ran down the clock and walked out with the win.

– #LetsGoSVC –