MEDFORD, Mass. – Southern Vermont College came back in the second half Monday night to claim a 59-54 New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's basketball win over Lesley University at Medford High School.
After the Mountaineers trailed 29-20 at the intermission, they cut the deficit down to four by the end of the third quarter. SVC then outscored the Lynx by nine in the final frame to pull ahead and take the victory.
Southern Vermont (4-8, 2-3 NECC) is next in action at 5 p.m. on Thursday with a home league tilt against Eastern Nazarene College.
SVC freshman Julia Ryan (Clifton Park, N.Y.) led the visitors with a season-high 14 points while adding eight rebounds and two steals to her line. Senior Maddy Main (Bennington, Vt.) tied the game-high of 17 rebounds, and she scored 13 points for her fifth double-double of the year. Freshman Liv Pressley (Richmondville, N.Y.) also hit double figures with 12 points, and she tallied three steals in the effort.
Field goal percentages were fairly even with Southern Vermont notching a 32.3 (21-65) to LU's 31.6 (18-57). The Lynx grabbed a 48-47 edge in rebounds and outscored SVC 28-18 inside the paint. The Mountaineers had a 6-2 advantage in 3-pointers, however, and had a 13-10 upper hand in second-chance points.
Main put the double-double in sight during the first quarter as she tallied eight rebounds and seven points to help Southern Vermont go on top 13-11. The Lynx responded in the second and came storming back—outscoring SVC 18-7 in the frame to bring a nine-point lead into the locker room.
Lesley started the third stanza on an 8-2 run to post its biggest upper hand of the night at 37-22. The Mountaineers would begin to seize the momentum towards the end of the quarter, however, and closed it out on a 12-2 run. Ryan and fellow freshman Katie Godon (Carmel, Calif.) each had five points in the third to help Southern Vermont get within four.
A lone Ryan jumper accounted for the only scoring through the first 3:21 of the fourth quarter as Lesley clung to its minimal advantage. Those were the first two of 13 unanswered points which put SVC on top by nine with 4:38 to play; Pressley had six points in that stretch while Ryan drilled a triple to chip in with five of her own. Although, there was still plenty of time and plenty of fight left in the Lynx.
A pair of old-fashioned 3-point plays from the hosts over the next three and a half minutes helped Lesley go on a 9-2 run and get it back to a one-possession game. Southern Vermont scored the next four, but LU hit a free throw and then came up with a steal in the waning seconds; the Lynx got a layup to go off the turnover to set the score at 57-54 with 17 ticks on the clock.
Main would draw a foul on the ensuing possession, however, and she was able to put the game away as she went 2-2 from the charity stripe.
Both Godon and sophomore Brenna Hudson (Malone, N.Y.) finished with six points in the win.
– #LetsGoSVC –