CASTLETON, Vt. – The Vermont State University Castleton women's basketball team played another tight battle on Tuesday evening, falling by a single point to Little East Conference foe Plymouth State, 67-66, at Glenbrook Gym.
The game featured seven ties and 14 total lead changes as the two sides traded blows for all 40 minutes. Castleton (7-7, 1-4 LEC) fell behind 10-0 early in the contest but worked its way back into the game and took the lead for the first time midway through the second quarter after five straight points by
Liz Bailey.
Stasia Epler and Bailey tacked on four points after a Panther layup to push the lead to three with three minutes in the opening half, but Plymouth State (6-5, 2-2 LEC) scored the final four points of the half to lead by a point at halftime.
Plymouth pulled ahead 37-31 early in the third quarter, but a seven-point Spartan run put the home side ahead 38-37, kick-starting a seven-minutes stretch where neither side led by more than a single possession. The Panthers opened the fourth quarter with seven consecutive points to build its lead up to eight points, 52-46, but the Spartans continued to battle, chipping away at the deficit thanks to a three by
Kathryn Moore. After a three-point play by the Panthers, Castleton scored six unanswered to tie the game at 55-55 with 3:46 to play.
The Panthers pulled ahead with a layup before
Elise Magro buried a three for a 58-57 Spartan lead. A layup on the other end put Plymouth ahead once more, but two free throws by Moore gave Castleton the edge once more with 1:59 to play. Three straight layups by Plymouth gave the Panthers a five-point lead with less than a minute to play, but Castleton got layups from Bailey and Magro to pull within one at 65-64. Plymouth hit a pair of free throws after a foul to save clock, but Magro again came through with a late layup to make it 67-66. The Panthers called a timeout to advance the ball out of Castleton's scoring range and killed the final moments off the clock to hang on for the victory.
Magro finished with a game-high 20 points and led the Spartans with seven rebounds and four steals. Bailey added 14 points and five boards while Epler had nine points and six rebounds. Moore finished the night with 11 points and four assists, tying
Schuylar Nolan for a team-high in the assist category.
Lea Crompton scored 18 for the Panthers followed by Bri Wilcox with 14 and Alli Ingalls with 12. Wilcox and Hailey Malozzi had nine rebounds apiece with Wilcox adding five steals.
The Spartans are back in action Thursday afternoon at Eastern Connecticut State at 3 p.m.
