Women's Basketball Falls Short to Salem State, 83-80

PAXTON, Mass.—The Anna Maria College women's basketball team suffered an 83-80 loss to the Vikings of Salem State University on Tuesday evening in non-conference action.

The win boosts the visiting Vikings to 2-1 on the season, while Anna Maria evens their record to 1-1.

AMCAT LEADERS

Sophomore Deja Taitt (Cambia Heights, N.Y.) tallied a double-double of 18 points and 10 assists for Anna Maria, while classmate Christina Gauvin (Dudley, Mass.) also scored 18 points. Junior Nicole Mareiro (Acushnet, Mass.) tallied 15 points off the bench—shooting all nine of her shots from behind the arc and hitting five of them.

SALEM STATE LEADERS

Kaitlyn Bryan (Lowell, Mass.) paced the Vikings with a game-high 23 points and 10 rebounds, followed by Kia Fernandes (Wareham, Mass.) with 15 points and eight rebounds. Sarah Callahan dished out six assists.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Vikings took an early lead in the first quarter, but never held a comfortable advantage as the AMCATS managed to keep it within five. With under four minutes left in the quarter, Mareiro hit back-to-back three-pointers to bring the AMCATS within one point at 21-20. Minutes later, Gauvin hit a layup to tie the score at 26-26 and gave the hosts the lead on a three-pointer on Anna Maria's next trip down the floor.

The lead would prove to be short-lived, as the Vikings outscored Anna Maria 6-3 in the final 1:25 of the quarter to tie the score at 31-31. Salem State built on their lead in the second half after holding the AMCATS scoreless for nearly five minutes. The Vikings took their biggest lead of the half on a layup by Tahira Peralta (Stoughton, Mass.) with 30 seconds remaining and carried a 56-44 lead into halftime.

Anna Maria used the third quarter to chip at Salem State's lead and trailed by seven entering the final quarter, 55-59. Salem State took another five-point lead with 3:35 left to play but Anna Maria fought back, using layups by Lindsay Bond (Webster, Mass.) and Taitt to cut the lead to one, 79-78, with 1:29 left to play.

Bryan hit a layup on the Vikings next trip, but Emily Capstick (Worcester, Mass.) got an offensive board, buried the layup, and was fouled on the play with 27 seconds left. The would-be game-tying free-throw was off the mark, and the AMCATS were forced to foul. Fernandes hit both free-throws as Salem State escaped with the win.

FINAL COMPARISONS

The AMCATS forced Salem State into 20 turnovers on the day, paced by Kristina Russo (South Windsor, Conn.) who finished with three steals. The Vikings shot at 42.6 percent from the floor (26-61), including a 48.6 percent effort in the first half, and hit half of their three-point attempts as a team (9-18).

Anna Maria hit 42.1 percent of the field goal attempts (32-76) and matched the Vikings with nine three-pointers, but Salem State held a 22-7 advantage in made free-throws to seal the win.

WHAT'S NEXT

The AMCATS return to action on Thursday for a 7:00 p.m. home game against Becker. Salem State travels to Lasell on Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. start.