Thursday, December 8, 2011 (Newton, Massachusetts) - For the sixth consecutive contest, the Mount Ida College women's basketball team captured a 53-50 non-league victory over visiting Western New England University Thursday evening in Newton, Massachusetts.
Mount Ida was led by an impressive performance from junior transfer Evebonee Acosta (Hartford, CT/Bulkeley/Gold-Beacom College) with 13 points and six assists.
After starting the season with three consecutive losses, the Mustangs have powered their way through their sixth victory to improve to an overall record of 6-3 and have yet to play a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) game. The visitors fall to 2-5 for the year and remain at 1-1 in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action.
Along with an impressive performance by Acosta to lead the Mustangs, senior guard and captain Jeileen Rivera (Springfield, MA/Springfield Central) added 11 points and six rebounds. Senior captain Shannon Wood (Gorham, ME/Catherine McAuley/Bryant University) added eight points and seven caroms. Senior center Katie Morvan (Northbridge, MA/Northbridge) chipped in 10 boards respectively.
The visitors were led by senior forward Sarah Proper (Coxsackie, NY/Coxsackie) with the games only double-double with a game-high 15 points and 17 boards, including six offensive rebounds. Sophomore guard Ali Pessolano (Hampden, MA/Minnechaug Regional) added 14 points and six boards as well.
The Mustangs trialed the entire first half with their only lead coming in the opening minutes scoring the first five points of the contest all by Wood.
The visitors took over the lead following a 9-0 run to go ahead 9-5 capped off on a Pessolano trifecta with 16:45 remaining in the first half.
Western New England would go ahead by a half high eight points with 8:56 to go before the midway point on a good lay-in by Proper (19-11).
The Mustangs chipped away getting within a deuce of the visitors trailing 19-17 after a successful lay-in by Rivera with less than six minutes to go in the stanza.
The visitors went ahead again by six points (23-17) with two and a half minutes remaining after a successful jumper by Pessolano.
Mount Ida eventually cut the Golden Bear advantage down to one point sinking the final basket of the half trialing 23-22 heading into the break.
The hosts captured their second lead of the contest through the first minute of play in the second stanza up 26-25 following a successful jumper by sophomore forward Abbey Fedigan (New Fairfield, CT/New Fairfield).
The Mount Ida lead didn't not last very long while the Golden Bears powered through a 9-1 run through the next four minutes up 34-27 after a good lay-in by Western New England junior Elena Radzikowski (Medway, MA/Medway) with just under 15 minutes to go in the contest.
The hosts regained the advantage at the 10:41 mark following a 10-0 run with the bulk of the offense coming from sophomore forward Missy Collins (East Hartford, CT/East Hartford) leading 37-34.
The contest went back and forth for the next couple of minutes until the score deadlocked at 43-43 with 4:21 remaining following a Golden Bears jumper by Proper.
After knotting one more time with two minutes to go at 46-46, the Mustangs jumped ahead by five points following a jumper by Fedigan and a huge three pointer from the corner by Rivera with Mount Ida leading 51-46 with 46 ticks left in the game.
The visitors cut the lead down two one possession (51-48), but two successful free throws by Acosta sealed off the 53-50 victory of the Mustangs for their sixth of the year.
Mount Ida will travel to non-league Fitchburg State University next Tuesday for their final contest of the semester with game time slated for 7:00 p.m.