CASTLETON, Vt. – The Castleton University women's basketball team was victorious 64-47 against the University of Southern Maine in Little East Conference action on Saturday afternoon at Glenbrook Gym.
 
Elise Magro led the way with a 19-point, 14-rebound double-double while adding seven steals and four assists. Magro was presented with the game ball from her 1,000th career point before the game. Liz Bailey added 18 points and came up one rebound shy of a double-double with nine boards. Kelly Vuz had 14 points and four assists for the Spartans.
 
Castleton (12-6, 5-4 LEC) shot 36.7 percent as a team from the floor, hitting 22-of-60 in the game. Southern Maine (5-13, 3-8 LEC) hit 31.4 percent (16-of-51) and went 9-for-9 at the free-throw line. Castleton made 15-of-19 at the line. The Spartans had a 41-35 rebound advantage that led to an 11-5 advantage in second-chance scoring. 24 Southern Maine turnovers led to 17 Spartan points.
 
Southern Maine's Amy Fleming led all players with 28 points on 10-of-19 shooting. She also had six rebounds. Ashlee Aceto led the Huskies on the glass with nine boards and Tamrah Gould dished out five assists.
 
The Spartans got off to a quick start, hitting two layups early for a 4-0 lead before USM's Fleming hit a jumper and a successive three-pointer to make it 5-4 in favor of USM. Vuz matched Fleming's three on the other end the following possession for a 7-5 lead, jump-starting a 12-0 run for Castleton that pushed the lead to 16-5 with 4:14 left in the first quarter. Emily Adams also had a three during the span, and Magro had six of the 12 points. Fleming broke the drought for USM with a layup before Vuz made it 19-7 with two free throws. Fleming knocked down a jumper with 3:12 to play in the opening frame for a 19-9 score, a mark that didn't move over the final three minutes of play in the frame.
 
Maggie McKearin opened the second with a bucket for Castleton before Magro hit a pair of free throws to push the lead to 22-9. A three by USM's Vaughan broke a five-minute scoreless stretch for the Huskies, but Vuz again matched on the other end for Castleton to keep the lead at 14 points, 26-12. A brief run by Southern Maine made it 26-17 before the two sides traded baskets to a 32-21 score with 2:38 to play in the half. Another three by Fleming made it 32-24 before a Bailey layup and Magro triple pushed the gap to 37-24. Two USM free throws late in the half made it 37-26 at halftime.
 
Both teams traded baskets in the opening minutes of the third quarter before Castleton went on a 6-0 run to push the lead to 15, 45-30. A three by Fleming stopped the bleeding for USM. After a Bailey layup, the Huskies added five more points after a layup by Maria Deficico and a three by Fleming to make it 47-38. Castleton slowly inched ahead the remainder of the quarter, taking a 56-43 lead into the final 10 minutes.
 
The two sides were scoreless for the first five-plus minutes of the final quarter, with Southern Maine getting on the board with a Fleming layup before Castleton matched with a Bailey layup on the other end. Bailey added another to pad the lead to 60-45. Two free throws by Fleming gave USM its last points of the night with three minutes left and Castleton tallied four final markers on free throws of its own—two each by Gwyn Tatton and Magro—to seal the 64-47 win.
 
Castleton is back in action on Monday with a road game at WestConn at 5 p.m.