Two Spartans earn LEC honors
The Spartans earned a record of 5-4 over the University’s Winter Break. Sophomore guard Brooke Raiche and Junior guard Alexis Quenneville both earned LEC Player of the Week honors in consecutive weeks.
“It was great to have Castleton players get awards back-to-back weeks,” Quenneville said. “It was very uplifting for both us and our program.”
Raiche and Quenneville have been the consistent driving force for the Spartans’ offense this year.
“They’ve been fairly consistent,” Coach Tim Barrett said.
Raiche is averaging 16.2, 1.9 assists, and 5.4 rebounds per game this season. Quenneville is averaging 12.5 points, 1.5 assists, and 4.3 rebounds per game this season. They have both played in all 21 games this season.
Defense has not been a problem for the Spartans this season, only allowing 50.6 points per game. Offensive consistency seems to be the main issue. In LEC play they have been outscored by 1.7 points.
“I think what we’re really missing is a consistent interior threat,” Coach Barrett said.
Katlyn Toomey, junior forward, is the name Barret gave when talking about interior threats, “(Toomey) has done a great job filling her role defensively and also rebounding averaging almost 10 rebounds a game.”
Barrett said that, “because there is not a consistent threat on the interior, Quenneville and Raiche face a lot of double teams from opposing defenses.”
“We struggle to be consistent on the offensive side at times,” Quenneville said. “We just need to get in the gym extra to get extra shots up and try to take more in-rhythm shots in the offense.”
The Spartans sit at sixth place in the Little East. The top six teams make it to the Conference Tournament at the end of the season.
Heading into the game on Feb. 2, Barrett said he believes it is important to seal a win, “Being successful against Keene would put us in a real good spot going into the last two weeks of the season.”
“Every game from here on out is extremely important for us to ensure that we have a spot in the playoffs,” Quenneville said.
The team didn’t disappoint him Saturday, beating Keene on Senior Night by a score of 50-38.
The Spartans’ next game is this Saturday when they take on Southern Maine on the