The Mount Ida College women's basketball team dropped a tough 65-57 non-conference loss to visiting Westfield State College Tuesday night in Newton, Massachusetts. The Mustangs fall to 2-3 overall while the Owls improve to 4-1.
Mount Ida opened up the scoring with a 9-0 run in the first 3:14 of the contest capped off on a lay-up by senior Ashley Boyd (Hanson, MA/Hanson-Whitman). The visitors answered quickly with a big 12-0 run of their own to take the three point advantage (12-9) finished on a jumper in the lane by Owl junior Ashley Finnegan (Worcester, MA/Holy Name) with 13:34 remaining in the first half.
After the score knotted twice (12-12, 14-14) the margin stayed tight for the next five minutes with the Mustangs maintaining a small advantage up 23-20 with 6:35 to go in the half after a Missy Collins (East Hartford, CT/East Hartford) jumper.
Eventually the visitors regained the lead off a three point play by junior Cassy Jouannet (Conway, MA/Frontier Regional) up 24-23. The visitors scored the final five points of the half including a dagger with eight seconds to go from downtown by senior Krista Corriveau (Plainville, CT/Plainville) taking a 30-25 advantage into the break.
The Owls started the second half of play very hot gaining a 10 point lead in the opening three and a half minutes on a barrage of offense. The Mustangs would not be denied pulling the deficit within two after two good free throws by senior Cherie Parisi (South Attleboro, MA/Attleboro) down 39-37 with 11:39 to go.
Mount Ida could not break the threshold and ultimately gave up an 8-0 run to give Westfield State a game high 14 point advantage with under five minutes remaining. Although the Mustangs fought hard to erase the lead, the Owls kept the hosts in check hitting key shots down the stretch along with a couple of costly turnovers by Mount Ida. Westfield State eventually closed out the Mustangs with a 65-57 non-conference victory handing the hosts their third loss of the year.
Although the Owls were terrible from the line going 17-29 for 58.6 %, they still were able to pull off the victory due to 28 turnovers by Mount Ida. The Owls weren't far behind giving the ball back to the Mustangs 25 times. The hosts had a tough time keeping their hands to themselves with two players fouling out of the contest.
Parisi had the best day for Mount Ida netting a team high 14 points with nine caroms and three assists. Collins was the other Mustang in double figures with 10 points, her second highest game total of the season along with five rebounds and three steals.
The visitors also had two players in double figures with Jouannet tallying 12 points with seven boards. Finnegan was solid underneath notching a double-double with a game high 15 points and 10 caroms.
The Mustangs will not have any contests through Thanksgiving and will restart the action against hosting Becker College in Worcester, Massachusetts next Tuesday, December 1, 2009 starting at 7:00 p.m.