Box Score NEWTON, Mass – The Norwich University women's basketball rebounded from its first Great Northeast Athletic Conference loss of the season in a big way Saturday afternoon, knocking off Mount Ida College, 83-55 to hand the Mustangs their first league loss.
Norwich senior guard
Aliah Curry (Windsor, Mass.) poured in 16 of her game-high 18 points in the first half, while sophomore forward
Heather LeBlanc (Sanford, Maine) added 16 points with a team-high seven rebounds.
First year guard Shanell Nardone led Mount Ida with 13 points on 4-9 shooting and 3-6 from the three-point line, while Stephanie Champoux added 11 points, five rebounds and four assists for the Mustangs (5-9, 0-1 GNAC).
Both teams had difficulty finding their rhythm early on, and nearly five minutes into the game, the squads were knotted at four.
Norwich (9-2, 1-1 GNAC) began to separate themselves by scoring the next 12 points, a run that included two three-pointers by Curry and a pair of steals by
Shyann Josler (Thetford, Vt.), who had seven points in the game.
The Mustangs ended the run momentarily on a three-pointer from freshman Trish Liotta, but then LeBlanc began to take over with a pair of layups, and
Kelsey Lotti (South Yarmouth, Mass.), who added nine points and five rebounds, nailed a three-pointer to cap another 9-0 run by the Cadets.
Curry's third three-pointer of the half gave the Cadets their largest lead of the half, 22 points, at 34-12
Nardone had scored 11 points in the first half, including 3-3 from behind the three-point line, and her triple just before the buzzer pulled the hosts back to within 16 at the break, 44-28.
The lead reached 20 points for the Cadets early in the second half when Josler converted an old-fashioned three-point play and it had ballooned to as much as 25 points with 11:51 to play in the game.
It hovered that way for the final ten minutes of the contest, with a three-pointer by Kayla Mercer (New Britain, Conn.) making the 28 point final score the biggest margin of the game.
Curry dished out five assists and pulled down six rebounds in a well-rounded effort, while LeBlanc led the Cadets with seven caroms.
Mount Ida had a 52-46 edge on the boards, led by 12 rebounds from sophomore Angelique Martinez a game-high, who also pitched in with eight points and two assists.
Norwich forced 19 turnovers while just making 7 miscues of their own. Josler had four of their six steals to go with five assists of her own.
Norwich will stay in conference play next Tuesday evening with a 7:00 pm home game against Saint Joseph (Conn).
