PLYMOUTH, N.H. – The Castleton University women's basketball team clinched a home game in the upcoming Little East Conference Championship Tournament with a win over LEC foe Plymouth State Wednesday night as the Spartans knocked off the Panthers 57-38 at Foley Gymnasium. The Spartans' final seed and quarterfinal opponent will be determined following the completion of the regular season Saturday.

Castleton improves to 15-9 overall and 10-5 in conference play with the win, while Plymouth State falls to 4-19 overall and 0-15 in the league after suffering its seventh straight loss. Castleton has now won three in a row and five of its last six games. Both sides struggled from the floor, with Castleton ending the night at 30.2 percent (16-of-53) and Plymouth at 21.6 percent (11-of-51). Castleton was lights-out from the perimeter, however, knocking down 11-of-22 (50.0 percent) from three while the Panthers hit 5-of-16 (31.3 percent) from deep. Castleton also knocked down 14-of-20 at the line and PSU hit 11-of-16. The Spartans dominated the rebounding battle, 50-31, though Plymouth committed only 18 turnovers to Castleton's 21.

Alexis Quenneville led all scorers with 20 points in the game on 6-of-9 from three and 2-of-2 at the line. Elise Magro joined her in double digits with 13 points and six rebounds, while Brooke Raiche rounded out Castleton's double-digit scorers with 10 points and eight rebounds. Kylie Wright hauled in a career-high 13 boards off the bench to lead all players on the glass.

Alessia Salzillo accounted for a majority of the Panther offense, racking up 15 points on 4-of-16 shooting. She also had seven steals and six rebounds. Isabella Earle added nine points off the bench for Plymouth and Alex Ricard added eight points and six rebounds.

Castleton controlled the game from the onset, scoring the first 13 points of the contest and holding Plymouth State scoreless for nearly nine minutes. Quenneville hit a pair of threes to push Castleton's lead from five points to 11, before a layup by Magro gave Castleton a 13-0 edge. Salzillo dropped in a layup with 1:09 to play in the first to cut into the Castleton lead and send the game to the second with the Spartans ahead 13-2.

The Panthers bit into the lead slightly in the second quarter, outscoring Castleton 12-10 in the frame, but the Spartans still held a commanding lead at the break. Bose opened the second with a three for Castleton, but a later 7-1 run by the Panthers pulled them within eight, 17-9. The lead got down to five just minutes later when Salzillo hit a three for Plymouth, but Castleton head coach Tim Barrett called timeout and Castleton ended the half on a 4-0 run to carry a 23-14 lead into the second half.

The Spartan lead grew by six within the first minute of the second half, as Quenneville hit a pair of threes in the opening minute of the third quarter.  After four straight points by Plymouth State, Raiche hit a jumper and Magro buried a three to give Castleton a 16-point advantage, 34-18, with 7:04 left in the quarter. The lead continued to grow, as a 6-0 run gave the Spartans a 21-point lead after another Magro three, and a subsequent 5-0 run pushed the lead to 24, 45-21. Castleton tacked on one more point to its lead before the final quarter, taking a 50-25 lead to the final 10 minutes.

Plymouth State used six straight points over a nearly three-minute stretch to make it a 51-31 game, but Jillian Laughlin and Quenneville hit back-to-back threes to push the gap back to 26, 57-31, with 5:55 to play. Both teams remained scoreless for the next two minutes before Plymouth rattled off the final seven points of the game to make it a 57-38 final.

Castleton wraps up the regular season Saturday at Glenbrook Gym with its Senior Day against Eastern Connecticut. Game time is slated for 1 p.m. with a brief senior ceremony prior to tip-off.