CASTLETON, Vt. – It wasn't easy at times but the Castleton defense locked down when it had to in the second half to earn a 70-57 victory over the University of Maine at Farmington on senior day as team clinched the program's fourth consecutive North Atlantic Conference Regular Season Championship. 

The Spartan defense forced 29 turnovers, shot 39.4 percent from the floor and 34.8 percent from downtown to improve to 20-4 overall and 16-1 in the NAC. This marks the fourth straight 20-win season for seniors Jade Desroches and Meghan O'Sullivan, and the duo are now 50-3 in the NAC over the past three seasons. They also own the program record for victories with 98, compared to just 16 losses. 

Desroches did a bit of everything for the offense with 14 points, five assists, four steals and three rebounds while O'Sullivan added eight points, one steal and a block. Junior Bryanna DuPont supplied a career-high 17 points along with nine rebounds, six steals and one block. 

Three Beavers reached double figures, led by Lindsay Ranquist with 12 points, nine rebounds and three assists. Meghan Smith added 11 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out and Rhi Jackson chipped in with ten points off the bench.

Castleton jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the first three minutes, forcing a UMF timeout. The Spartans kept it rolling and pushed their lead to 21-6 on a layup from DuPont off a feed from Amanda Beatty. The Beavers finally found some offense and went on an 11-5 run to pull with eight, 26-18 with 7:00 minutes left. Ranquist and Smith cut the deficit to four, 29-25, with four straight before O'Sullivan connected on a jumper with 4:02 left. Kennadi Grover pulled UMF with three on a layup at 1:46, but Castleton ended the half on a 5-2 run for the 38-32 advantage at the break. 

The Spartans started the second half on an 8-4 run and then pushed their lead to 49-38 on a three from Desroches at 13:44. After a Beaver score Castleton went on a 9-0 spurt to take an 18-point lead with 9:01 left. UMF eventually closed the gap to 13 but Bethany Lanfear connected on a triple from the corner to make it 65-49 with 6:04 left. The Beavers didn't get any closer than 13 over the final six minutes and a late Grover layup provided the 70-57 final score. 

Castleton doesn't return to action until next Saturday when the team travels to face Green Mountain at 3 pm.