NORTHFIELD, Vt. (1/9/25) – In just the second meeting all-time between the two programs, the Nichols College women's basketball team secured an 82-73 road win at Norwich University in their final non-conference tilt of the season inside Andrews Hall.
Nichols' record moves to 8-3 (2-3 CNE) overall, while Norwich falls to 6-5 (0-1 GNAC).
Nichols was led by junior guard Alyvia Smith, who scored 20 points after going 7-of-16 (43.8%) and 5-of-10 (50.0%) from deep. Abrianna Vazquez notched 16 points on the night, in addition to a game-high seven steals, while Kya Burdier put up 13 points with four boards. Summer Klein was the last to score in double figures for the Bison with 11 points, six steals and four rebounds.
Norwich started the game strong with a 9-0 run to make things initially tricky for the Bison, but a pull-up jumper from Riley Barrieault at 6:20 finally got Nichols on the board. Nichols eventually worked their way back into the game to only trail the Cadets by two points, but Norwich added a strong finish to the period to lead 19-14 after one.
In the second quarter, claimed its first lead at 9:00 when Smith knocked down a jumper off a pass from Angie Coletti. Both teams would exchange points over the next few minutes before another Smith jumper gave Nichols a 28-26 lead nearing the midway point of the quarter. Through the final five minutes of the half, the two teams played to a 9-9 stalemate, until Norwich cashed in on a final layup in the dying seconds to send the Bison to the locker room trailing by one, 39-38.
Nichols outscored Norwich 6-0 in the opening two of the third quarter as Klein tallied four consecutive points to put the Bison up by five. Norwich soon answered with their own 7-2 run to tie the score at 46-46, but a Vazquez layup with 3:29 quickly restored Nichols' two-point edge. As the quarter came to a close, Nichols would see its lead increase to 56-51 entering the fourth, thanks to a pair of layups from Burdier in the final two minutes.
The fourth was all about lead preservation for the Bison, as they matched the Cadets up and down the floor through the first four minutes. However, despite trailing the Bison by as many as seven points, the Cadets continued to show resilience by erasing the deficit to lead 69-68 with 3:00 to go. The Bison would go on to outscore Norwich 13-4 over the final three minutes en route to their 82-73 win.
The Bison returns to conference play at the Nichols Athletic Center as it hosts Suffolk University (6-6, 1-4 CNE) on Saturday, Jan. 11th for a 1:00 PM matinee.