CASTLETON, Vt. – The Castleton University women's basketball team completed its season sweep of UMass Boston Wednesday night, defeating the Beacons 70-67 in Little East Conference action at Glenbrook Gymnasium.

The two sides battled down to the wire, with Brooke Raiche hitting a clutch layup and Elise Magro sinking two free throws in the waning moments to give the Spartans the three-point win. Castleton improves to 13-9 overall and 8-5 in LEC play, while UMass Boston falls to 16-6 overall and 7-6 in league play. Castleton downed the Beacons in both head-to-head matchups this season with both games decided by four points or less.

The Spartans shot 44.4 percent as a team from the floor, knocking down 28-of-63 from the field. UMass Boston countered with a 52.3 percent clip, hitting 23-of-44—including 9-of-22 from three. The Spartans were 6-of-18 from distance. The Beacons edged Castleton 31-29 in rebounds, but Castleton forced 22 Beacon turnovers while committing just 10 miscues of their own. Those 22 UMass Boston turnovers resulted in 28 Spartan points, and Castleton held a 14-5 edge in second-chance scoring as well.

Brooke Raiche tied her season-high scoring output with 24 points on 11-of-19 shooting, hitting the 20-point plateau for the third time this season. She also had six rebounds, five assists and three steals in the win. Elise Magro added 17 points in addition to four rebounds and four assists. Emilee Bose chipped in 12 points with a pair of threes on the night.

Jalani Jackson matched Raiche for a game-high 24 points while adding four assists, three steals and two blocks for the Beacons. Joie Grassi notched 18 points for UMass Boston in addition to seven boards. Tahjai Mazyck and Geanna Williams had seven points apiece.

The Spartans got on the board first with an elbow jumper by Magro, but a three on the other end gave the Beacons the lead, 3-2. The two sides traded leads once more, with UMass Boston going ahead 5-4, but Castleton rattled off nine points in a row to take a 13-5 lead and forcing a Beacon timeout. The timeout was effective for UMass Boston as the visitors knotted the game up at 13-13 following an 8-0 run out of the break. Toomey dropped in a layup for Castleton to stop the bleeding and give Castleton a 15-13 edge with less than three minutes left in the quarter. With 1:35 to play in the first, Raiche finished a layup from Magro to give Castleton an 18-14 advantage, but Mazyck made 1-of-2 free throws on the other end to send the game to the second quarter with Castleton leading by just three, 18-15.

Castleton quickly extended its lead to seven points, as Magro made 1-of-2 at the line before Alexis Quenneville knocked down a triple to make it 22-15 Spartans. Five straight Beacon points from Grassi—a layup and a three—made it 22-20 in favor of the Spartans, but Raiche answered with a jumper of her own to give Castleton a four-point edge once more. Castleton's lead sat at five points with 3:17 remaining after a three from the top of arc by Bose as the shot clock wound down, but the Beacons answered with four straight points to make it 29-28 just one minute later. A free throw by Mazyck knotted the game at 29-29 with 1:47 left in the half. Bose knocked down a pair of free throws to put Castleton on top, 31-29, before Jillian Laughlin logged a steal and was fouled on the fast break. Laughlin hit 1-of-2 at the line to push the Spartan lead to 32-29 with 43 seconds to play. A late jumper by Mazyck drew UMass Boston within one, but Raiche dropped in a layup from Magro with less than 10 seconds remaining in the half to send the Spartans to the locker rooms leading 34-31.

Castleton immediately doubled its lead out of the locker room when Bose drilled a three to make it 37-31, before Raiche added a layup to push the edge to eight points. Castleton opened the half on a 9-2 run to go ahead 10, 43-33. The Beacons drew closer over the following minutes before going on a 7-0 run late to knot the score at 47-47 with 1:42 to play. Toomey hit a jumper to stop the run and Bose knocked down one of her own to give Castleton a 51-47 lead with 43 seconds left in the frame. After an Olivia Perry layup gave Castleton a 53-47 edge with 28 seconds left, the Beacons' Jackson converted an and-one play with just one second left in the third to cut the gap to 53-50 heading to the final frame. The game went back-and-forth for the first four minutes of the final quarter as the score sat level at 55-55 with less than six minutes to play. With 5:42 remaining, Grassi hit a three for the Beacons to give UMass Boston its first lead since the early parts of the first quarter, 58-55. It was the Beacons' largest lead, as Castleton responded with a layup by Magro on the other end with 4:58 to play before Raiche converted a layup of her own following a steal by Quenneville to return the lead to Castleton, 59-58. A pair of free throws by Kaylee Haynes gave the Beacons a 60-59 lead, but Magro answered with a bucket for Castleton to put the Spartans back head, 61-60. Magro then padded the lead on Castleton's next possession with a layup before Raiche extended the gap to six—66-60—with a three. The Beacons scored five straight points to pull back within one, 66-65, but a Raiche layup just before the end of the shot clock gave Castleton a crucial three-point lead with just 8.1 seconds left. Castleton fouled on the inbound play and Jackson hit both free throws to cut the gap to just one point once more, 68-67. After a Castleton timeout, Magro was fouled on the inbound with just four seconds remaining. The rookie knocked down both free throws, sealing the win for the Spartans as Jackson's last-second three-point attempt went wide left as the horn sounded on a Castleton victory.

The Spartans hit the road Saturday to Southern Maine to take on the Huskies. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m.