SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Four players reached double-figures in leading Springfield College past Mount Holyoke College, 92-30 in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's basketball action on Wednesday evening. With the victory, the Pride improve to 13-5 with an 8-1 mark in conference play, while the Lyons slip to 2-15 and 0-10 in the NEWMAC.
Springfield was paced by a 14-point effort from starter Heather King, who also added a game-high eight rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block in 22 minutes played. Ava Adamopoulos came off the bench to also score 14 points with six boards. Molly McCausland added 10 points, while Alex Goslin came off the bench to score 10 points as well with a game-best five steals.
For the Lyons, Xajaah Williams-Flores posted 10 points and a game-best eight rebounds. She also had a steal. Kathryn Violette chipped in with nine points and four boards, while Leah Hodges and Genesis DiCarlo each posted four points.
The two teams played a close opening quarter as the homestanding Pride grabbed a 5-2 lead behind a free throw make from Gracie Restituyo. A Violette jumper made it a 5-4 game with 6:39 to play, but a 10-0 run from Springfield made it a 15-4 advantage.
Williams-Flores sank a pair of layups and a shot from downtown by Katlyn Grover made it an eight-point (19-11) game with 1:02 to go. Despite the momentum, went on a 5-0 run to close out the opening quarter with a 24-11 advantage.
A layup from Hodges early in the second period once again helped to close the gap (29-13), but back-to-back shots from Adamopoulos helped Springfield pull away. The Pride defense was in full force over the final 4:19 as the home team capitalized with a 16-0 run, including a pair of three-pointers from Molly McCausland to head into intermission with a 51-17 lead.
Springfield's scoring streak stretched into the third quarter with an early 8-0 run, which was halted by a pair of free throw makes from Williams-Flores with 6:42 to play. Another 9-0 continued to build the Pride's advantage, once again halted as Violette nailed a pair of buckets and Williams-Flores hit two more shots at the line to make it a 68-25 score with 1:46 to play.
In the fourth quarter of action, Violette sank a three-pointer at the 7:28 mark to make it 76-28, but a 13-0 run from Springfield pushed the margin to 89-28. DiCarlo went to the line with 1:01 to go, hitting both shots, but three free throw makes from Alex Goslin gave the Pride the victory.
Mount Holyoke returns to action on Saturday when it hosts Wheaton at 1pm at the Mildred S. Howard Gymnasium. Springfield is also in action on Saturday, hosting MIT at 2pm.
