Junior Alexis Quenneville, left, shoots a 3-pointer in the game against Southern Maine. Photo Courtesy of Castletonsports.com

They’re here! The Castleton women’s basketball team picked up a huge win against Plymouth St. on Wednesday, Nov. 28 to earn their first Little East Conference win. The final score was 55-41.

The Spartans started off strong and were up 14-4 after the first quarter. Sophomore guard Brooke Raiche led the team in scoring with 19 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists.

“I think it was important for us to get off on a good note…getting that first LEC win is sometimes the hardest,” Coach Tim Barret said.

The Spartans saw contributions from many different players during the game.     One of those leading contributors was junior guard Alexis Quenneville, who was on the floor for 28 minutes and went 4-4 from the free throw line. She also recorded three rebounds and one assist to compliment her 11 points.

“It was extremely important to win our first LEC game so that we could prove to the other teams in the conference that we can compete with them,” Quenneville said.

Raiche and Quenneville are leaders on the court for the Spartans, but Coach Barret believes others need to step up in order to continue their success.

“Obviously they are both really important to us, but we need to find a little bit more for our scoring especially on the interior, and I think Katie (Toomey) is starting to do that,” Barrett said.

Quenneville is a deep threat for the Spartans, she is currently shooting 37.1% from three-point range, but she wants to be more than just that.

“I want to be more than just an outside threat,” Quenneville said.

Coach Barret also believes that she needs to add more to her game because the opposition will find ways to take that away from her.

“She needs to find other ways to score,” he said.

The bright spot for the Spartans so far this season has been their defense. Through their first eight games, they are holding their opponents to just 50 points per game while scoring 53.

In order to continue their success, Barret believes the team needs to, “be able to generate more offense consistently.”

Quenneville also believes that is the only thing the team needs to work on.

“We have been playing great team basketball our last couple of games. We just need to stay consistent for all 40 minutes and we will be all set,” she said.

The Spartans’ next game will take place this Friday as they take on former NAC foe Colby-Sawyer on the road at 7:00 PM.