The Mount Ida College women's basketball team dropped their third straight Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) contest Monday night against hosting Norwich University, 80-63, in Northfield, Vermont. The Mustangs fall to 7-10 overall, and remain winless (0-3) in the GNAC standings while the Cadets improve to 12-4 on the season and stay undefeated (4-0) in conference play.
Mount Ida senior Cherie Parisi (South Attleboro, MA/Attleboro) led the way for Mount Ida, scoring a game-high 22 points and snaring a team-high 12 caroms good for a double-double. Senior Nicole Casimiro (Lee, NH/Oyster River) knocked down four three-pointers and netted 16 points for the Mustangs in the loss.
Cadet senior Erica Rate scored 15 of her team-high 18 points before halftime, and senior Ally Daniels scored 17 points as the Norwich University women's basketball team built a big lead and eventually captured their fourth GNAC win of the season.
Junior Christine Daniels posted another double-double for Norwich, scoring 11 points and pulling down a game-high 13 rebounds. Senior F Jess Jaggars registered a double-double of her own, totaling 12 points and 10 boards. Senior/junior F Laurel McWilliams chipped in nine points and nine rebounds off the bench for the Cadets, who improve to 12-4 (4-0 GNAC).
The first four minutes of the contest see-sawed back and forth with Mount Ida holding a slim 9-8 lead at the 15:45 mark. Norwich seized control of the game over the next five minutes, though, reeling off a 20-0 run to grab a 28-9 advantage at the 10:35 mark. The Cadets extended their lead to as many as 23 points later in the half before taking a 45-26 advantage into the intermission.
Rate led the Cadets in the first half with 15 points. Casimiro paced the Mustangs in the opening 20 minutes with 13 points. Norwich was on fire from the floor in the first half, knocking down 50.0 percent (14-of-28) of its shots. Mount Ida, meanwhile, made just 25.0 percent (9-of-36) of its field goal attempts.
Norwich maintained a double digit lead throughout the second half to earn the victory. Mount Ida closed the gap to 12 points with 4:55 to play, but that was as close as the Mustangs would get.
Norwich won despite turning the ball over 29 times and shooting just 43.3 percent (26-of-60) from the field for the game. Mount Ida made just 27.4 percent (20-of-73) of its shots. The Cadets held a 66-34 edge in the rebounding department, which led to a 36-18 advantage in second-chance points.
The Mustangs will travel to St. Joseph College (CT) this coming Saturday starting at 1:00 p.m. for more GNAC action.