Box Score NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University women's basketball team played suffocating defense against Regis College holding the visitors to under 20 percent from the field in a 46-38 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) upset victory on Saturday afternoon at Andrews Gym.
The win advanced Norwich's record to 8-13 overall and evened their GNAC mark at 4-4. The win was also significant in that it gave Head Coach Mark Zacher his 150th career win.
Regis (12-10, 6-2 GNAC) seemed intent on jumping out to a hot start launching eight three-point attempts while hitting on three of them to build up an 11-6 lead by the 2:44 mark of the first period.
Norwich junior guard Riley Bennett (Hopkinton, N.H.) hit a trey just before the period ended to send the Cadets into the second stanza trailing the Pride 11-8.
A repeat performance from Bennett knotted the game at 11-11 just a minute and a half into the second quarter and spurred the hosts onto a 6-1 run up to the 4:12 mark.
The visitors chipped away at the deficit eventually tying the game at 19-19 when Marissa Prall drilled her three-point attempt with just over a minute remaining in the half.
Junior guard Julia Vigorito (Malden, Mass.) stepped through the lane with a layup with just 21 clicks left on the clock to send the Cadets into the locker room with a 21-19 lead.
Clutch shooting late in possessions and key free throws down the stretch helped to secure the upset for the Cadets in the second half as their lead was slowly built up throughout the final two quarters. The Cadets led by as many as 12 late in the fourth quarter as the Pride desperately bombed away from distance in an attempt to reduce the deficit.
After Bennett found the bottom of the net on a jumper at the 3:47 mark to put the Cadets up 41-29, the Pride employed a full-court press resulting in a 7-0 run to chip the lead down to 41-36 with 2:54 to go forcing the hosts into a timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, the Cadets discovered the press break and then Regis was forced to foul to stop the clock to give it a chance to get back in the game. Norwich didn't let that happen, however, hitting 5-of-6 freebies to secure the win.
To the Pride's credit, the team statistically performed well out-producing the Cadets in almost every statistical category, most notably gaining a 58-39 edge on the boards. The visitors also registered 19 second chance points due to their tenacity on the offensive boards, but the Cadets won the battle of the turnovers, limiting their miscues to 15 and points off of turnovers to just seven.
Bennett led all scorers with 15 points, including three makes from beyond the arc. Vigorito supplied 11 points with just one three-pointer, but that one was a back-breaker at the end of the shot clock to build the Cadets lead to 10 with 6:32 remaining. Senior forward KristieAnn DeSilvio (Chelmsford, Mass.) also notched double-digit points with 10 points. Junior forward Kailynne Frederick (Adams, Mass.) led the Cadets on the boards grabbing eight caroms, while junior guard Emily Schromm (North Attleboro, Mass.) handed out seven assists.
Pam Gonzalez led the Regis starters with nine points and 10 rebounds but was just 3-of-16 from the field. Mackenzie Emery led all bench players with 10 points and eight rebounds as the Pride's only other scorer in double-figure points.
Norwich will be back in action again on Wednesday when it travels to Colby-Sawyer for a GNAC clash set for 7 p.m. Regis will also be in action on Wednesday when it squares off against conference foe Suffolk at home at 8 p.m.
