PLYMOUTH, N.H. – The Castleton University women's basketball team dropped an overtime thriller in its season opener Wednesday night, falling on the road to Plymouth State in a Little East Conference matchup by a final score of 56-51.
The Spartans trailed by four points with just 22 seconds remaining in regulation, but Brooke Raiche knocked down a three and hit a pair of free throws in the final moments to force overtime with the score tied at 46-46. The Panthers took an early lead in the overtime period and led by six with 12 seconds left, but Raiche buried yet another three to halve the lead to three. That was as close as Castleton could pull, however, as Plymouth iced the game with a pair of free throws to seal its win, 56-51.
Castleton falls to 0-1 after the season-opening loss, while Plymouth State improves to 1-2. Castleton shot just 29.7 percent from the field on the night, going 19-of-64, while Plymouth countered with 32.1 percent from the floor on 17-of-53 shooting. Both teams struggled from long range, with Castleton going 5-of-22 from three and Plymouth 5-of-19. The Panthers made the difference in the game at the free-throw line, knocking down 17-of-24 at the stripe while Castleton made just 8-of-12 free-throw attempts. The Spartans won the rebounding battle 44-40, while turnovers were nearly even.
Raiche led all players with 25 points on the night and added seven rebounds as well. Raiche was 7-of-18 from the field, 5-of-9 from three and a perfect 6-of-6 at the free-throw line. Emilee Bose had eight points and a game-high 14 boards on the night, while Elise Magro turned in a well-rounded performance of eight points, six assists and three rebounds. Delaney Whitehead chipped in four points and five rebounds, while Olivia Perry finished the night with four points and four rebounds of her own.
For the Panthers, Alessia Salzillo led the team with 16 points on 5-of-11 shooting. Jalen Cook and Jessica Ruiz each added six points and seven rebounds for Plymouth, while Bella Earle led the team with three assists.
Plymouth jumped out to a 5-0 lead early, but Castleton answered back with a 13-2 run over a seven-minute stretch to lead 13-7 late in the first quarter. Raiche scored each of Castleton's first 11 points of the contest before Perry finished a layup down low to push the Spartan lead to six. Plymouth closed the gap by one before the end of the quarter, as Castleton led 13-8 after the first 10 minutes.
Castleton extended the lead to seven points—15-8—on a layup by Bose early in the second, but the seven-point edge was short-lived as Salzillo buried a three on the opposite end to make it 15-11 on the next possession. The three sparked a 9-0 run for the Panthers, who took a 17-15 lead with 5:19 left in the opening half. Castleton then got back-to-back buckets from Whitehead and Magro to go ahead 19-17, but Sarah Sweet hit a three to put Plymouth back on top, 20-19. A layup by Perry with 2:06 left in the opening half gave Castleton a 21-20 lead that it carried into the halftime break.
Castleton once again pushed its advantage to seven points out of the locker room, opening the second half on a 6-0 run on baskets from Taylor Goodell, Raiche and Magro to make it 27-20. After a Panther timeout, Plymouth stopped the bleeding, but Castleton kept the Panthers at arm's length as the two sides traded scores throughout the middle of the third quarter. A jumper by Magro with 4:23 left in the quarter gave Castleton a 33-26 lead, but it was the last bucket of the frame for the Spartans as Plymouth closed the quarter on an 8-0 run—a stretch that was capped by a buzzer-beating jumper—to take a 34-33 lead into the final 10 minutes of regulation.
A pair of free throws by Raiche with 8:33 left gave Castleton a lead once more, but Plymouth answered on the next possession with a jumper by Halie Hurd. The two sides traded leads once more as Bose made a layup before Plymouth's Autumn Nelson knocked down a pair of free throws to give the Panthers a 38-37 lead with 6:41 remaining. A layup by Raiche put Castleton back on top 39-38, but Ruiz hit a layup of her own a minute later to put the home side back ahead, 40-39. The Plymouth lead stretched to two points when Earle made 1-of-2 at the free-throw line, and was extended to four points—43-39—with two minutes remaining after Salzillo hit a jumper for the Panthers.
Trailing by four with less than two minutes to play, Bose cut into the Panther lead with a layup to make it 43-41. A pair of free throws by Salzillo pushed Plymouth's lead back to four points—45-41—but Raiche countered with a three from the right wing to make it a one-point game with just 19 seconds left on the clock. After a foul to stop the clock, Plymouth's Jalen Cook went to the line with 16 seconds left and made 1-of-2 to give her side a 46-44 lead. On the ensuing Castleton possession, Raiche was fouled and sent to the line for a pair of free throws, where she knocked down both to knot the score at 46-46. Salzillo got the final shot for Plymouth, but it came up empty and sent the game to overtime.
Cook made a quick basket for the Panthers in OT to give them an early lead, and then later drilled a three to make it 52-46 in favor of Plymouth. Castleton battled back, however, as Whitehead put in a layup to cut the gap back to just four points. A pair of free throws by Sabrina Vlahovic with 12 seconds left pushed the lead back to six points—53-48—but Raiche again hit a three to make it 54-51 with four seconds left. Castleton fouled to stop the clock once more, but Vlahovic again hit both free throws to put the game out of reach, 56-51.
Castleton returns to action Saturday at 4 p.m. when it travels to UMass Dartmouth for a Little East Conference matchup with the Corsairs.
