Tuesday, February 15, 2011 (Newton, Massachusetts) – Behind junior Jeileen Rivera's (Springfield, MA/Springfield Central) seventh double-double of the season, the Mount Ida College women's basketball captured a 65-51 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) victory over visiting Pine Manor College Tuesday evening in Newton, Massachusetts. Rivera, who notched 12 points and 12 rebounds for the game, led the Mustangs on 5-13 shooting along with five assists. Mount Ida improves to an overall record of 8-15 and is teetering on the bubble of a potential final playoff spot with a 4-6 conference record. The Gators drop to an overall record of 6-14 and fall out of playoff contention for the time being standing at 3-7 in GNAC play.
The visitors held the advantage once throughout the entire contest up 5-4 with 15:34 showing in the first half following a successful jumper by junior Paulette Wright (Baltimore, MD/Seton Keough).
The Mustangs countered with a small 6-0 run taking a 10-5 lead after a good jumper by freshman forward Abbey Fedigan (New Fairfield, CT/New Fairfield) with just under 13 minutes to go in the stanza.
Mount Ida held the margin going ahead by as many as seven points with 6:23 to go in the half following another Fedigan jumper up 23-16.
Although the visitors cut the host lead to three with under three minutes before the break, Mount Ida headed into the locker room with an eight point advantage capped off on a junior Rachelle Gilbert jumper (Corunna, IN/Dekalb) leading 30-22.
To start the second half the Mustangs piled on the offense with an 11-2 run jumping ahead with a commanding 41-23 advantage following a successful lay-in by Rivera with just under 15 minutes to go in the contest.
The Mustangs kept their double-digit lead for almost the entire second stanza until the visitors cut it back down to nine (55-46) with 4:16 to go after a jumper by Gator junior Therline Dumeran (Cambridge, MA/Cambridge Rindge & Latin).
Pine Manor would not get any closer while the Mustangs kept their composure and collected their fourth conference victory of the season winning 65-51.
Mount Ida shot an impressive 50 percent from downtown and eighty percent from the charity stripe in the second half to solidify the win. Although the visitors tried to attempt a valiant comeback, the Mustangs continued to sink key shots creating 26 turnovers for the game as well.
Along with Rivera, the Mustangs also saw impressive individual performances from Fedigan who netted a team high 17 points and eight caroms. Junior transfer Shannon Wood (Gorham, ME/Bryant University) also chipped in a quiet 15 points and dished out five assists as well as six steals.
The Gators were led by a game high 18 points and 15 caroms from Dumeran also adding three blocks while Wright added 11 rebounds and six points respectively.
The Mustangs will host GNAC foe Rivier College this coming Thursday night with tip-off slated for 6:00 p.m.