DARTMOUTH, Mass. – The Castleton University women's basketball team suffered its first Little East Conference loss of the season Saturday afternoon, falling by a final score of 66-54 to UMass Dartmouth at the Tripp Athletic Center.

The Spartans sit at 6-2 overall and 1-1 in league play with the loss, while UMass Dartmouth improves to 7-2 overall and 2-1 against LEC competition. Castleton struggled from the floor, shooting a season-low 33.3 percent (21-of-63) from the field. The Corsairs shot 38.7 percent (24-of-62), and made 22.2 percent from three (6-of-27). Castleton also struggled from long range, making just 19.0 percent (4-of-21) from three. The Spartans dominated the glass, 50-38, as well as second-chance scoring, 13-5, but lost the turnover battle 18-13.

Elise Magro led the Spartans with 16 points on 7-of-17 shooting, hauling in four rebounds in the process. Kylie Wright scored 11 points off the bench in addition to seven rebounds, while Brooke Raiche and Emilee Bose finished with eight points apiece. Bose led all players with 12 rebounds. Katlyn Toomey hauled in nine boards in addition to six points.

Ashley Brown led UMass Dartmouth with 19 points in the contest, shooting 6-of-12 from the field and 6-of-6 at the free-throw line. Shaelyn Carreiro added 15 points on 7-of-11 from the field, while Jessica Carroll rounded out the double-digit scorers with 13 points. Brown and Jordan Moretti tied for a team-high with seven rebounds each, while Brown led the team with six assists and four steals.

The first quarter was full of back-and-forth action, with four ties and three lead changes in the opening 10 minutes. Neither team led by more than three in the frame, with Castleton leading 5-2 before UMass Dartmouth scored six unanswered to go ahead 8-5. Castleton tied the score on a jumper by Wright, but Brown converted a three-point play for the Corsairs to make it 11-8. Castleton then took back the lead on back-to-back buckets by Alexis Quenneville and Toomey, making it 12-11, but another three-point play by UMass Dartmouth put the Corsairs ahead once more, 14-12. Castleton got the last points of the quarter on a pair of free throws by Bose, knotting the score at 14-14 after 10 minutes.

The second quarter was much the same, again neither side leading by more than three points. The lead changed hands seven times and the game saw just one tie in the frame. Magro buried a three with 4:42 left in the half to give Castleton a two-point edge, 23-21, but Carreiro leveled the game on the other end with a jumper before a three by Jennifer Driscoll gave the Corsairs a lead once more. Castleton led 31-28 with less than a minute remaining in the half, but a late three by Driscoll knotted the game at 31-31 heading into halftime.

The Corsairs started to pull away in the third quarter, outscoring Castleton 19-12 in the frame. Carroll knocked down a jumper for the hosts to start the scoring, but Bose answered on the opposite end for Castleton with a layup of her own. A three by Carroll on the ensuing possession gave UMass Dartmouth a lead it never relinquished, putting the Corsairs ahead 36-33. A later 9-0 run by UMass Dartmouth pushed the lead to 50-36—the largest lead of the game. Castleton ended the quarter on a 7-0 run of its own, however, cutting the gap back to seven points going to the fourth quarter.

A jumper by Magro with 3:26 to play cut the gap to just six points—60-52—and capped a 6-2 Spartan run, but Castleton never got any closed as those were the final Spartan points in the contest. The Corsairs scored the final six points of the contest, four of which came on free throws, giving the game its 66-54 final.

Castleton closes out first-half action next Friday against Colby-Sawyer. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. at Castleton's Glenbrook Gymnasium.