PAXTON, Mass. -- Anna Maria College led from wire to wire in defeating the Mount Holyoke College basketball team 73-60 on Tuesday, after the visiting Lyons outscored the host Amcats 26-13 in their fourth-quarter comeback attempt.
Anna Maria (3-4) took advantage of modest shooting advantages in the game, shooting .446 from the field and .368 from long distance to .381 and .200 for Mount Holyoke.
Mount Holyoke fell to 0-6 with only its second double-digit loss of the season. The Lyons dropped to 2-5 all-time against Anna Maria.
Mount Holyoke committed a season-low 17 turnovers to Anna Maria's 19, and had a 21-14 advantage in points off turnovers.
The Lyons started the fourth quarter outscoring the Amcats 7-0, which turned into a 13-3 run spanning the first five minutes of the period, as senior Cal McGonagle's (Yarmouth, Maine) layup got the deficit under 20 points at 65-47 with 5:02 left in the game. The run included three baskets by first-year Helena Robinson (Gales Ferry, Conn.) and a 3-pointer by sophomore Hannah Goen (New London, N.H.).
A layup by McGonagle and back-to-back hoops by junior Alex Twomey (Nutley, N.J.) cut the deficit to 14 points (67-53) with 3:10 remaining, but Anna Maria responded with a 6-0 spurt to ice their win, upping the lead back to 20 points (73-53) with 1:27 remaining.
Mount Holyoke called timeout with 30 seconds left, and closed the game with a Robinson layup followed by a Twomey 3-pointer, closing the final deficit to 13 points from a game-high 27. The Lyons shot 12-19 (.632) from the floor in the quarter.
Marinique Reddin proved to be player of the game for Anna Maria, scoring 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting including 2-3 from three, to go with 10 rebounds and four assists. Sharayah Scott-Cummins scored 11 points off the bench.
Robinson and Twomey scored 15 points apiece for Mount Holyoke, and McGonagle added 13 points with nine rebounds. Sophomore Sofia Francisco (Boston, Mass.) added nine points and 13 rebounds, and ranks third in the NEWMAC with 9.8 boards per game (Robinson is sixth at 8.8). Francisco also leads the league in free-throw percentage (.923) and is tied for eighth in blocked shots per game (1.2).
Mount Holyoke next plays at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., on Tuesday Dec. 3 at 5:30pm.
