CASTLETON, Vt. – The Castleton University women's basketball team earned its second consecutive win Saturday afternoon, downing Little East Conference for Southern Maine by a final score of 67-54 at Glenbrook Gym.

Castleton improves to 8-6 on the year and 3-2 in LEC action, while Southern Maine falls to 7-8 on the year with a 2-4 mark against conference opponents. Castleton shot a season-best 50.0 percent (25-of-50) from the field and held the Huskies to just 31.7 percent (20-of-63) shooting. Castleton knocked down six threes—four of which came from Brooke Raiche—to finish the day 54.5 percent from long range, while Southern Maine knocked down 7-of-22 from distance (31.8 percent). Castleton won the rebounding battle 36-33, but Southern Maine had 13 second-chance points to Castleton's four. Castleton turned the ball over 18 times to USM's 13. Castleton was efficient offensively, with assists on 22 of its 25 baskets.

Brooke Raiche led all scorers with 18 points on the afternoon, making 6-of-12 from the field and 4-of-6 from three. She added seven rebounds, three assists and a block. Emilee Bose had 14 points to reach the double-digit plateau for the third straight game, making 7-of-10 from the floor. Kylie Wright added 10 points and two assists off the bench in 15 minutes of action. Elise Magro finished with eight points, six assists, four rebounds and four steals while Alexis Quenneville had seven points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Jackie Luckhardt and Michelle Rowe had 13 points apiece to lead the Huskies, while Morgan Eliasen had 10 points to round out the double-digit scorers. Rowe led the way with seven rebounds, while Abi Ramirez added six and Eliasen five. Eliasen also had three steals and two assists.

Castleton was dominant from the early stages, jumping out to a 9-0 lead before Southern Maine finally got on the board with less than five minutes to play in the opening quarter. The lead stretched to 12 points after Quenneville buried a three, but a three on the ensuing possession made it 14-5. A layup by Olivia Perry was the final bucket of the frame with 1:11 to play, giving Castleton a 16-5 lead after the first quarter.

The second quarter opened with the two sides trading buckets for the opening three minutes before Castleton went on a 9-0 run to push its lead to 18 points. The run was bookended by Spartan layups, as Raiche kicked it off before Wright closed it nearly four minutes later. A late three by Eliasen cut into Castleton's lead before the break, sending the Spartans to the locker room leading 31-16.

Play was even once more for the opening five-plus minutes of the third quarter, but Castleton exploded for a 9-2 run out of the media timeout to take a 47-27 lead with two minutes remaining in the third. A three from Raiche made it a 21-point game 30 seconds later, but Luckhardt hit a jumper at the third-quarter buzzer to make it 50-31 Spartans heading into the fourth quarter.

Castleton's lead reached a game-high 23 points after a Perry jumper found the bottom of the net less than one minute into the final quarter. USM answered with five straight points, but Perry again got on the board to make it a 20-point game once more, 56-36. The Huskies were resilient, however, chipping away at the lead before going on a 9-0 run that spanned three minutes and narrowed the Castleton lead to just 10 points—58-48. The lead was slimmed to single digits—60-51—after a three from Rowe, but Castleton hit six consecutive free throws to go ahead 66-51 with less than 30 seconds remaining. Another three by Howe pulled the Huskies to within 12, 66-54, but Quenneville knocked down 1-of-2 at the line in the waning moments to give Castleton the victory, 67-54.

The Spartans hit the hardwood again Wednesday night with a 5:30 matchup at UMass Boston.