Knight Women's Basketball Drops Two Over Weekend

After winning their first game of the season, the Green Knight Women's Basketball team was unable to sustain their positive momentum in succumbing to the University of Maine-Augusta on the road on Friday, and Unity College at home on Saturday.

The women knew the weekend would be difficult, as travelling 3 1/2 hours to play Friday, waiting for the men to finish, arriving back at Randolph Center at 130am and then having to turn right around and face a game Unity squad for an afternoon matchup was sure to test their mettle. The Friday game against Augusta was extremely difficult, with the Knights utilizing a great amount of energy to stay in the game against the pressing tight defense of the Moose. The effort from Friday night clearly showed itself on Saturday, as the Knights were simply a step slow throughout the entirety of the game versus Unity.

Against Maine-Augusta, 3-0, 2-0 and currently the leader in the YSCC standings, the Knights fought valiantly but the Moose came out on top 57-38 in a typical Vermont Tech low scoring affair. The Knight denial defense was in full-effect, as they held their opponents below their season scoring average, but the shortcomings on the offensive end of Vermont Tech doomed them in the end. The Moose of Augusta used a pressure defense, led by point guard Ashlee Peaslee, who ended with 15 points, 5 assists and 7 steals, to create turnovers and then converted those directly into points. Although the turnover battle was close, 32 for the Knights compared to 25 for the Moose, the conversion numbers were quite different. Augusta used those 32 turnovers to the tune of 34 points, while the Knights could only manage to turn their 25 forced turnovers into 6 points. That and rebounds, 45 for the Moose and only 25 for the Knights, were the differences in the game. The Moose were led in rebounding by the double-double machine that is Katie Poirier, who has a double-double in every game this season and finished the game with 15 points and 14 rebounds.

The halftime score was a low 25-15 in favor of Augusta, who then came out in the second half and within 8 minutes extended the advantage to 20. The Knights, however, would not lie down, as they continued to fight and scrap and frustrate the Moose in mounting a small comeback. From the 9:03 to the 2:50 mark the Knights held Augusta scoreless, going on a 10-0 run and bringing the lead to within 14. In the end, however, it was simply not enough, as Augusta hit their free throws to make the final margin 19. Junior Kelly Vellek (Burlington, VT) led the Knights with 13 points, including 5-6 from the free throw line, and 5 assists. Senior Abby Fusco (East Montepelier, VT) had 6 rebounds in the game.

After arriving home late Friday night, the women woke up early Saturday to face another YSCC opponent in Unity College 1-2, 1-2. The legs of the Knights were heavy and the spirit just not quite there as Unity used an incredible rebounding advantage of 40, 64 to 24, to defeat Vermon Tech on its home floor.

The game was close at halftime, 21-19 in favor of Unity. Unity relied on rebounds, especially from Candance Robinson who ended with 22 boards, 16 on the offensive end, to go along with her 15 points, while Vermont Tech forced Unity to commit 34 turnovers to keep them in the game. Those 34 turnovers turned directly into 19 points, but even with those points shooting only 23% from the field, 20% from 3 point land and going 3-7 from the free throw line led to the loss.

The game was tight throughout the second half, and looked like it could take a turn in the direction of Vermont Tech when Fusco hit a jumper at 8:24 to tie the game at 34. For the next 3 minutes neither team scored, but Unity broke the tie and the game open with a three pointer from Ashley Moeller at 5:28 left in the game. Unity then went 7-8 from the free throw line the rest of the way to secure the victory, as the Knights could not find the bottom of the net. Vermon Tech went 0-16 from the field and 0-3 from the free throw line in the final 8:24 of the second half, and the game came to an end with the Knights on the wrong side of a 44-34 score. Vellek again led the Knights in scoring, with 17 of the teams 34 point total. Freshman Alyssa Cassanelli (Barkhamsted, CT) had 7 points and 7 rebounds for the Knights in the loss.

The Green Knight Women are now 1-2, 1-2 and next play in-state non-conference foe Johnson State College on Wednesday, November 16th in the home confines of SHAPE. Start time is slated for 6pm, followed by the men facing the same opponent at 8.