The Castleton women’s basketball team went two-for-two over the weekend to help them break away in the North Atlantic Conference West Division standings.After winning one game and dropping three during break to start the new year, coach Tim Barrett’s team defeated Johnson State 76-51 in the first home game of the new semester.

Hoping to keep the ball rolling, the Spartans sent a conference match up with unbeaten Maine-Farmington into overtime off a 3-pointer by Mary Nienow.

However, Farmington’s Kari Simpson’s basket with 12 seconds left won the game for the Beavers, 55-54. Castleton had a chance to win it with 1.5 seconds remaining, but a final shot by Jess Banks went in-and-out.

The following day, the squad looked as though they would face another heartbreaker against Thomas. Falling behind early, the Spartans were able to take a 30-23 lead going into halftime.

Thomas continued to battle and with 14 seconds left, Lea McNary gave the Terriers a 60-59 lead. McNary then fouled Banks, who sank both free throws for the win.

Over the weekend, Castleton defeated Mount Ida 84-72 and Lasell 66-61. The Spartans go into Friday’s game against Elms ranked first in the NAC West at 8-3 and 11-6 overall.

Men’s Basketball

The men’s team followed its counterparts with a spring semester home-opener win against Johnson State. The Spartans defeated the Badgers 88-62 for their second North Atlantic Conference win.

Coach Ted Shipley’s squad could not continue the momentum and were unable to come back from a halftime score of 28-19 against Maine-Farmington. Castleton fell to the Beavers 68-53.

However, the Spartans bounced back with three straight wins. After dominating Thomas, Castleton faced a close battle against Skidmore in non-conference play.

Following 16 lead changes and 15 ties, Castleton broke away in the final two minutes and scored seven unanswered points for a 75-68 victory.

Castleton then defeated Mount Ida 80-64, before suffering an 83-76 loss to Lasell over the weekend to drop to 4-5 in the conference and 8-9 overall. Ranked fourth in the NAC West division, the Spartans will travel to Elms on Friday.