Women's Basketball notches second straight win with 73-52 win over SVC
Bennington, VT- The MCLA Women's basketball team placed four players in double figures and Courtney McLaughlin led the way with 15 points, 8 assists, and 6 rebounds as the Trailblazers defeated the Southern Vermont Mountaineers 73-52 in a non-conference contest held at the Mountaineer Athletics Center. For MCLA, it marked their second straight victory and pushes them over .500 at 6-5 heading into MASCAC play Thursday night. The Mountaineers drop to 4-5 overall.
Joining McLaughlin in double figures for MCLA were Kayla Hotaling, Brayleigh Hanlon, and Svetlana Morrell who all finished with 10 points.
The Mountaineers were paced by Danielle Simmons' 15 points and 11 rebounds. Amber Flagg finished with 13 points, including the 1,000th of her career in the first half. She entered the game needing just three points to reach the milestone.
Early on, the Mountaineers were staying with the Trailblazers and led 12-10 on Flagg's milestone layup with 13:10 left in the opening half. The milestone marker ignited the Trailblazers though, as they responded with a 20-0 spurt to seize control of the contest at 30-12. McLaughlin and Morrell each had six points in the game changing spurt for MCLA.
The Trailblazers would eventually hold a 34-24 lead at the half before SVC would mount a rally. The Mountaineers would score the first seven points out of the locker room to pull within 34-31 with 18:28 to play. MCLA had an immediate answer though, this time using a 9-1 run to build the lead back to double figures at 43-32. SVC never got closer than 10 points the rest of the way.
McLaughlin was just 4-16 from the floor, but a perfect 7-7 from the stripe in collecting her 15 points. Morrell was strong off the bench going 5-5 for her 10 points. Hotaling battled first half foul trouble to end with 10 points and 6 boards.
The Trailblazers will look to make it three straight when they host Bridgewater State in the MASCAC opener for both teams on Thursday night at 5:30pm.