Senior Abbie Lesure directs traffic on a fastbreak. 

The Spartans lost their final home game of the season Wednesday, Feb. 13 when they took on Eastern Connecticut State.

Sophomore guard Brooke Raiche led the team with 25 points, but it wasn’t enough to get the win. The final score was 61-56 after one overtime period.

Despite the loss, head coach Tim Barret believes that the team showed great character in defeat.

“We showed a lot of toughness the way that we came back in the second half,” Barrett said.

Defense for the Spartans has been a focal point all season long, and against Eastern Connecticut State it was no different.

“We competed hard and were solid, pretty much for 40 minutes, but we’re still struggling to make shots consistently.” Barret said.

The Spartans were outscored in the first half 32-19. They scored 35 points in the second half to tie the game 54-54 before going into overtime.

Although the team lost, they are still locked into the sixth seed for the LEC tournament.

“I think the Little East Tournament is wide open,” Barret said. “With all of the six teams that are in the tournament, I think they all have a chance to win it.”

Junior guard Alexis Quenneville, believes that the team needs to put the regular season behind them.

“It’s not a fact of bouncing back, it’s a fact of moving forward. Playoffs are a whole new season,” she said.

Senior guard Ajla Medic missed all of last season due to injury but has had a good season coming off the bench. Scoring 3.3 points per game with a 34.5% field goal percentage.

For Medic and others, the playoffs aren’t different from the regular season.

“Preparing for the tournament will be just like preparing for any other game. Getting into the right mindset, preparing how to handle the other teams’ tactics, and working on the little things we need to get better at,” Medic said. “Focusing on these things will help us get to where we need to be.”

Before that, the Spartans faced UMass-Dartmouth on the road Saturday, Feb. 16.

“UMass-Dartmouth is a very up-tempo team that loves to pressure the ball,” Quenneville said. “We will need to be strong and smart with the ball and limit our turnovers.”

The Spartans fought hard but were unable to beat the top team in the LEC. The final score was 63-52.

Castleton earned a final regular season record of 14-11. They ended the season with a conference record of 6-10.

As the sixth seed the Spartans will be facing the third seed Southern Maine in the first round of the LEC tournament.

“We just need to be mentally and physically prepared to play,” Quenneville said.

The Spartan went to press before the game took place.