CSC women’s basketball wins NAC

The Castleton women’s basketball team won the North Atlantic Conference championship as Castleton hosted its first-ever NAC tournament this past weekend, defeating second-seeded Colby-Sawyer, 65-51.

In order to reach the finals, the Spartans battled past Maine Maritime 73-51 in the semifinal game.

Vanessa Powers, who recently scored her 1,000th point at Castleton, scored 24 points, having a perfect game at the free-throw line going four for four. She also had a game-high 12 rebounds and four steals in the win over Maine Maritime.

Christine Jacques contributed a dozen points and was four for seven shooting from long distance, while freshman Meghan O’Sullivan also had 12 points. Teammates Alyssa Leonard and Tarryn Bolognani also reached double digits with 10 each.

In the beginning of the second half, Maine Maritime racked up some points, but they were unable to get any closer than 19 points on only a few occasions in the last half.

Castleton shot 50.9 percent from the field. The Spartans had 18 assists on 29 field goals and limited their competition to 34 percent, forcing 18 turnovers against Maine Maritime.

Maine Maritime’s season ended at 14-13, while the Spartans moved on to play Colby-Sawyer in the NAC finals at home the following night.

In the finals, Castleton defeated Colby-Sawyer, taking the conference title. Leonard led her team with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Powers put up her second double-double of the weekend with 13 points and 17 boards. Jacques added 12 points and five assists, while O’Sullivan added 12 points.

For Colby-Sawyer, Cailin Bullett led her team with a game-high 23 points and 11 rebounds, while teammates Kelsey Cahill and Taylor DeSanty added 11 a piece. DeSanty was awarded NAC player of the year.

Castleton never fell behind in the match up.

The Spartans were up by 22 at the 8:22 mark, and the Chargers shortened that to just 12 at the 1:50 mark, however the Spartans regained control of the game.

Castleton limited Colby-Sawyer to just 26.9 percent shooting from the field, while Castleton shot 35.9 percent on the other end.

The Spartans will learn their NCAA playoff destination on Monday at 2:30 p.m. when the NCAA will release the tournament selections.

 

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