Five Mount Ida College women's basketball players landed in double figures cruising to a 68-56 non-conference home victory over visiting Anna Maria College this Tuesday night in their final contest before the mid-year break. The Mustangs improve to 6-5 overall and have yet to participate in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) game while the AmCats fall to 6-4 overall.
The first half was extremely quiet on both ends of the floor with neither team hitting the double digit mark until Mount Ida senior Nicole Casimiro (Lee, NH/Oyster River) drained a trifecta with 12:45 to go in the first up 10-4.
The Mustangs eventually built a six point (17-11) advantage after another Casimiro lay-in with seven minutes before the break. The visitors pulled ahead by one point after an 8-0 run capped by a Samantha Ashton (Worcester, MA/Burncoat) bucket up 18-17.
Mount Ida kept a steady and controlled pace to put together a solid run of their own and ultimately headed into halftime with the 28-22 advantage with sophomore Jeileen Rivera (Springfield, MA/Springfield Central) draining two free throws at the end.
The second half was a whole different story while the Mustangs built a commanding 17 point lead in the opening 4:46 of the stanza led by a barrage of offense from senior Cherie Parisi (South Attleboro, MA/Attleboro) and freshman Missy Collins (East Hartford, CT/East Hartford) up 43-26.
The AmCats had a very difficult time getting anything going offensively while the Mustangs continued to pile it on leading by a game high 18 points off an 11-0 run capped by a Parisi lay-in (63-45). The visitors cut the advantage in half down nine points with a little over two minutes to go in the contest (65-56). But the Mustangs hit their final free throws in the final ticks to seal the 68-56 victory good for their sixth overall on the season.
Parisi led the Mustangs with 15 points and nine caroms while Collins added 12 points with four boards and four steals. Casimiro also enjoyed another stellar outing with 14 points and three assists. Senior Ashley Boyd (Hanson, MA/Hanson-Whitman) was outstanding with her first double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 caroms while freshman Ashley White (Salem, MA/Salem) had a season high 10 as well with four assists and three swipes.
Ashton was incredible to say the least for the AmCats scoring 27 out of the 56 points netted by the visitors adding 11 rebounds good for a double-double of her own.
The Mustangs will head into the break at 6-5 and start the action back up with another non-conference contest against visiting Framingham State College on Thursday, January 7th, 2010 at 6:00 p.m.