Women's Basketball Falls to Norwich in GNAC Battle

PAXTON, Mass. – The Anna Maria College women's basketball team fell to the Cadets of Norwich University, 68-61, at home on Saturday afternoon in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action.

The loss drops the AMCATS to 4-17 overall this season and 1-12 in conference play while the Cadets improve to 13-8 overall and 8-5 in the GNAC.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

The Cadets were led by senior forward Heather LeBlanc (Stanford, Me.) who posted a team high 23 points to go along with 11 rebounds. Senior forward Leanne Winans (Hudson, N.H.)  followed LeBlanc's lead with 14 points and a game high 15 rebounds. Junior gaud Shyann Josler (Thetford Center,Vt.) rounded out the double digit scoring for the Cadets with 11 points. 

The AMCATS were led by senior guard Christina Gauvin (Dudley, Mass.) who posted a team high 23 points on the day. Senior guard, Deja Taitt (Cambia Heights, N.Y.) had 14 points while junior guard Kristina Russo (Windsor, Conn.) also added double-digit figures with 10 points.

The Cadets outrebounded the AMCATS by a 48-31 margin, and outscored the AMCATS 8-6 in second chance points. Anna Maria forced 20 Cadet turnovers and scored 25 of their 61 points off of those errors. The game saw 10 ties and six lead changes.

HOW IT HAPPENED?

Anna Maria and Norwich were trading leads back and forth in the beginning of the game until Norwich physical play was too much for Anna Maria to answer. The Cadets came out of the gate first with a lay-up by junior, Leanne Winans, to gain the early 2-0 lead. The AMCATS fired back with a three pointer from Gauvin to take the lead 3-2. Anna Maria and the Cadets continued to swap leads back and forth throughout the first half until a three by Nicole Mareiro (Acushnet, Mass.) brought the score to 37-34 AMCATS.

The tough play continued to the third quarter with three lead changes and the Cadets taking the lead at the end of the quarter with the score 48-46 after a lay-up by LeBlanc. After taking the lead at the end of the third quarter the Cadets didn't look back and outscored the AMCATS 18 to 13 in the fourth quarter. The AMCATS where able to cut the lead down to 2 points (63 to 61) with 34 seconds left in the fourth quarter with a three pointer by Russo. However, the AMCATS were not able to force a turnover and had to foul the Cadets. Victoria Brown went to the foul line and nailed both free throws to extend the Cadet lead 65 to 61. The AMCATS were not able to answer back and the Cadets closed the game out with a score of 68 to 61.   

 WHAT'S NEXT?

The AMCATS will travel to Lasell University in a GNAC battle starting at 7:00 p.m, Tuesday evening. The Cadets will be on the road against Mount Holyoke College on the same night and time.