NEWTON, Mass. – Mount Ida College senior Brittany Crosby (Riverside, R.I.) and Elms College junior Mackenzie LaRochelle (Chicopee, Mass.) put on an offensive display on Sunday afternoon, and while LaRochelle ended up as the high scorer with 34 points, Crosby's 31 points went a long-way to helping Mount Ida to a 74-67 win over the Blazers as the home team won both of their games at the 2016 women's basketball Mustang Classic.
Crosby went 14-23 from the field, the second most field goals made in a game in program history, and matched the third highest offensive output in a game.
Both she and LaRochelle, who went 11-14 from the field and 12-13 from the foul line, were named to the Mustang Classic All-Tournament Team, as was Mount Ida junior guard Breanna Muir (Wareham, Mass.), who had five assists, six points and eight rebounds in the win after going for 23 points in the first game of the tournament, an 88-48 win over Bay Path.
Mount Ida (2-1) outscored the Blazers 20-12 in the third quarter and took a 16 point lead when Crosby made a jump-shot to start the fourth quarter. Mount Ida then withstood an Elms comeback, as the Blazers cut the deficit to six points on several occasions in the final frame.
Mount Ida shot 47% from the floor and won despite not making a three-pointer after Muir made five on her own in Saturday's win.
Angelique Martinez (Taunton, Mass.) bounced back to post a double-double with 15 points and 18 rebounds along with a game-high seven assists, and freshman Alisa Benson (Middletown, R.I.) had 11 points off the bench, her second double-digit game in three collegiate appearances.
The Blazers (1-2) got 13 points from Emily Burr (East Hartford, Conn.) and a team-high ten rebounds out of Alexandra Marques (Newington, Conn.), but Mount Ida held Marques scoreless after she went for 18 points in Elms' opening win over Johnson State.
The Mustangs will enjoy their Thanksgiving Break before heading to Framingham State on November 29th for their first road game of the year, a 6:00 pm tip-off against the Rams.
Game 1: Johnson State 83, Bay Path 59
Johnson State moved to 2-1 on the season behind a 24-point game from All Tournament Team selection Ashley Goddard (Jamaica, Vt.), who was 10-12 from the field and hit two of her three attempts from behind the three-point line. Senior forward Domonique Carter-Stanley (Norwalk, Conn.) added ten points and five assists, and the Badgers had a 41-28 advantage on the glass, led by six reboundsa piece from Goddard, Sarah Voorhis (Nashua, N.H.) and Kasey DeGreenia (Concord, Vt.), who each added eight points and combined for seven assists and five steals.
The Badgers opened up their lead by outscoring Bay Path (0-3) 21-9 in the second quarter, shooting 44% in that frame.
Brenna Roy (Stafford Springs, Conn.) led the Wildcats with 18 points and was named to the All Tournament Team, while Dallas Jackson (Springfield, Mass.) had 16 points along with five assists, four steals and five rebounds, all team highs.
Goddard had 11 points at the half to lead all players and was 5-7 from the field in the first half, in which the Badgers took a 15-13 lead after one quarter and then extended that margin to 36-22 by the break.
Johnson State shot a tad under 48% from the field, while Bay Path fired at a 38.6% clip, including 4-10 from Roy.
Aaliyah Gordon (Springfield, Mass.) had 12 points, three assists and two steals for Bay Path, and Lindsey LaPerle (Bethel, Vt.) was the leader off the pine for Johnson State with 12 points. Kaitlyn Brouard (Milton, Vt.) added a defensive spark for the Badgers with three steals.