CASTLETON, Vt. – The Castleton women's basketball team jumped out to an 18-4 lead and never looked back as they locked down on Colby-Sawyer to finish with the 70-46 victory over the Chargers on Saturday afternoon in Glenbrook Gymnasium. 

With the victory the Spartans improve to 24-1 overall and conclude the NAC regular season with 17-1 mark. Colby-Sawyer also finished with a 17-1 record in the NAC, and 20-5 overall after being held to its lowest point total of the season. Castleton earns the top seed in the upcoming NAC Tournament by virtue of a tiebreaker, marking the second straight year in which the Spartans have gone into the tournament seeded first. 

On senior day, Kelly Conway and Tarryn Bolognani both came up big, helping to hold the high-scoring duo Taylor DeSanty and Cailin Bullet to just 18 points on 6-for-23 shooting. Offensively Conway scored 12 points and had five rebounds while Bolognani finished with eight rebounds, five points and four assists. 

Jade Desroches came off the bench to hit four shots from beyond the arc and went 7-for-10 from the field for 19 points. She also recorded five steals and three rebounds. Alyssa Leonard joined her in double figures with 11 points, four rebounds and three assists. 

DeSanty finished the game with 12 points and two rebounds while Bullet added six points, five assists and two rebounds. Kelsey Cahill was the only other Charger in double figures with ten points. 

The Spartans came out firing, opening up an 18-4 advantage just 6:46 into the first half. A three by DeSanty stopped the run and Colby-Sawyer cut the lead down to six at the 8:37 mark on another three by DeSanty. Conway responded with a three of her own to make it 24-15 with 6:48 left. 

An 8-3 run by Castleton extended the lead to 14, 32-18 at the 5:11 mark. The Chargers cut the deficit down to nine with just 1:24 left, but Samantha Holmes hit jump shot as the shot clock expired and a three by Desroches in the final seconds of the half made it 39-25 at the break. 

Castleton scored the first seven points of the second half to push the lead to 22, 47-25 just two minutes in. The Chargers wouldn't get any closer than 20 the rest of the way as the Spartan defense continued to play tough and finished with the 24-point win.