AMCATS Charge to 70-64 Victory over Bison

DUDLEY, Mass.—The Anna Maria College Women's basketball team picked up their second straight victory as they downed the Bison of Nichols College 70-64 on Saturday afternoon. With the win the AMCATS improve to 2-0 on the season while the Bison drop to 0-2.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Senior Christina Gauvin (Dudley, Mass.) led the AMCATS with 19 points as she went 4-for-5 from three-point range and shot 38.5 percent from field goal range. Deja Taitt (Cambia Heights, N.Y.) had 13 points while Kristina Russo (South Windsor, Conn.) and Nicole Mareiro (Acushnet, Mass.) both chipped in with 11 points.

Senior, Taylor Daniels (Dudley, Mass.) led Nichols with 17 points while her teammate Allison Cerrato (Rockland, Mass.) added 15 points and four assists.

The AMCATS shot 35.9 percent from field goal range while the Bison posted a 33.3 shot percentage. Anna Maria dominated in long range shooting as they shot 43.2 percent from behind the arc while Nichols shot 27.3 percent. The AMCATS outrebounded the Bison 47-43.

Despite the loss, Nichols forced 17 AMCAT turnovers and turned the ball over 14 times. They tallied 15 points off of AMCAT turnovers.

FIRST HALF

The Bison started off the day's scoring with a layup and free throw made by Cerrato to give them the early  3-0 lead. AMCAT forward, Shannon Hofmiller (Oxford, Conn.) knocked down two free throws and Taitt added a quick layup to help the AMCATS take a 4-3 lead with 7:25 to go in the first quarter. Russo, Mareiro and Gauvin all knocked down three-pointers to help the AMCATS gain a 19-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Bison opened up scoring in the second quarter with a jump shot made by Anna McDaniel (Taunton, Mass.) just 10 seconds in. The Bison went on a 5-0 run to close the gap to 23-17 with 5:29 to go in the second quarter. The AMCATS took a 16-point lead following back-to-back three-pointers by Gauvin and Mareiro with just 2:17 to go before the break.

Nichols was able to close the gap to ten points as Mekaela Giantonio (Plainville, Conn.) made two last second free throws to head into halftime with the AMCATS leading 39-29.

SECOND HALF

Emily Capstick (Worcester, Mass.) and Gauvin both knocked down early three-pointers in the third quarter to help the AMCATS take a 13-point lead with the score at 45-32. With 5:20 to go in the third Russo hit back-to-back three-pointers to help the AMCATS take their biggest lead of the game, 52-33. Taylor Daniels tallied eight points in the remaining eight minutes of the third quarter to help close the gap to 13 as the teams entered the final quarter with the AMCATS ahead, 59-46.

The Bison defense stepped up in the last quarter as they did not allow the AMCATS to make a shot over the first six minutes. Brooke Packard (Dudley, Mass.) was able to capitalize on this strong defense and added nine points from three, three pointers to bring the Bison within four points of the AMCATS, 59-55.

That was as close as the Bison would come as the AMCATS ultimately took the victory with a final score of 70-64.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The AMCATS travel down the street to Clark University on Tuesday, November 22^nd for a 4:00 p.m. non-conference game with the Cougars. Nichols travels to nearby WPI for a 7:00 p.m. game with the Engineers on Tuesday.