Women's Basketball loses defensive struggle with Trinity 43-31

North Adams, MA- The MCLA Women's Basketball team got within 32-31 of visiting Trinity (CT) this afternoon with seven minutes remaining, but the Bantams clamped down and held the Trailblazers scoreless the rest of the way as they pulled away for a hard fought 43-31 victory. The Bantams improve to 14-4 overall. MCLA slips to 2-14 on the season.
In the opening half, MCLA led 13-9 after one quarter of play as defensively they held the Bantams to just 29% shooting. The teams switched roles in the second quarter however as the Trinity defense held MCLA without a point for over seven minutes. The defensive intensity led to a 10-0 run that gave the visitors a 19-13 lead.
MCLA would finally score in the quarter on Kylah Langston's triple to cut it to 19-16. Neither team would add a basket over the final three minutes of the half, but the Bantams added a FT to lead 20-16 at the half. Both teams shot just 25% in the opening half and combined for 14 turnovers.
Trinity never trailed in the second half and opened up their largest lead of the night at 29-16 after a Bailey Hyland layup. From there, MCLA went on a 15-3 spurt over the next nine minutes of game action to pull within one at 32-31, still with seven minutes left to play. From there, the Bantams held MCLA without a point and pulled away. MCLA went 0-6 but more importantly committed 7 turnovers.
The Bantams ended the game on an 11-0 run as Hyland and Elizabeth Althoff combined for seven of the points.
Hyland and Devan Walsh each netted 10 points for the Bantams. Trinity overcame a 25% shooting performance and 18 turnovers. They did own a decided 52-32 rebounding edge over MCLA.
The Bantam defense held MCLA to 25% shooting and forced 19 turnovers in the contest. Langston led all scorers with 11 points for MCLA. Hannah Mazzeo added 9 rebounds.
The Trailblazers are back in action on Wednesday evening when they host Westfield State at 5:30pm.