North Dartmouth, Mass. – A day after UMass Dartmouth put up 91 points, the Castleton defense held the Corsairs to just 62 points and 36 percent shooting to come away with a 70-62 victory in the championship game of the Fairfield Inn & Suites Classic on Saturday afternoon.  

Senior guard Alyssa Leonard was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player as she averaged 17 points and seven rebounds in the team's two wins, including 18 points, ten rebounds and three assists in the clincher on Saturday. Teammate Jade Desroches was selected also selected to the all-tournament team after scoring a team-high 19 points to go with five rebounds, four assists and two blocks against UMass-Dartmouth. 

For the Corsairs, freshman Megan Ronaghan and Erika Bornemann earned all-tournament honors. Ronaghan recorded a career-best 28 points and grabbed nine boards but turned the ball over seven times, while Bornemann had 14 points, six rebounds and four assists. 

The game was back-and-forth over the opening seven minutes, as a Stephanie Bull layup tied it 13-13 with 12:43 left. Over the next three minutes UMass Dartmouth extended its lead to 20-13, however, Castleton countered with an 8-3 run to trail 23-21 with 6:50 left in the half. 

After a layup by the Corsairs made it 25-21, Heather Murdough hit a layup and Desroches followed with a three to give Castleton the 26-25 advantage with 4:47 remaining. Three Leonard free throws over the next minute and half extended the Spartan lead to 29-25. UMass Dartmouth came back with an 8-2 run to grab a 33-21 advantage with 29 seconds left, but Leonard made a jump shot with three seconds left to tie it 33 apiece at the half. 

Castleton opened the second half on a 7-2 run but the Corsairs came back to take a 41-40 lead with 15:42 left. The two teams traded baskets over the next seven minutes, until a Desroches triple parked an 11-0 run for Castleton with 8:56 remaining. UMass Dartmouth couldn't recover and didn't get any closer than eight the rest of the day. 

The Spartans shot 7-17 from behind the arc and out rebounded the Corsairs 50-40. Murdough led Castleton with 12 rebounds and added three steals and two blocks while Liz Douglass filled out the stat sheet with 12 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Castleton returns to action on Saturday at 1 pm when the Spartans host Williams in Glenbrook Gym.