NAC Quarterfinal: Castleton State 75, Johnson State 49
*Portions of this article courtesy of CSC Sports Information
Castleton, Vt. (February 24, 2009)
The third-seeded Castleton State College Spartans placed 11 players in the scorebook and received a huge performance from its bench in earning a 75-49 North Atlantic Conference Women's basketball Quarterfinal win over sixth-seeded Johnson State College at Glenbrook Gymnasium Tuesday evening.
With the score knotted at 8-8 with just under 13 minutes remaining in the first half, the Castleton reserves fueled a 21-2 run over the next six minutes to take a 29-10 lead that the Badgers would not be able to overcome. Johnson State got themselves back to within 13 at 33-20, using a 10-4 run over the next five minutes, capped by a Staci Cutting (Rochester, Vt./Rochester) three-pointer and a pair of Jenna Lewis (Middlebury, Vt./Middlebury) free throws. But, in much the same way they did all night, the Spartans answered with a 7-3 run, ending with a Katie Hoxsie three-pointer as the halftime buzzer sounded to take a 40-23 lead into intermission.
Castleton’s lead bulged to as many as 36 at 72-36 on a Christine Jaques three-pointer with 5:51 remaining, before the Spartans settled in for the 26-point win.
The Castleton bench outscored their guests 42-12, including a team-high 12 from reserve Kristie Dunchus. Hoxsie added 11 off the bench, while Jaques chipped in eight. Starters LeeAnne Ketchen, Mary Jess Banks and Mary Nienow added nine, eight and seven respectively
Cutting led the Badgers with 13 points, while Claudia Martineau (Washington, Vt./Spaulding) and Lewis added 11 and 10 respectively. Angela Locke (Waterville, Vt./Lamoille Union) scored 12 off the bench as Johnson State’s season comes to a close at 10-16 overall.
Castleton improves to 15-10 overall and will travel to Husson University, top-seed in the tournament and host of the Semifinal and Championship rounds. The Spartans will take on second seeded University of Maine-Farmington on Friday at 8:00 pm. The teams split two previous meetings this season, with each team earning a win on their respective home courts. The winner of Castleton-Farmington contest will take on the winner of top-seed Husson and fourth-seeded Green Mountain, which advanced to the semifinal round by way of a 54-44 win over fifth seeded Maine Maritime.