NEWTON, Mass. – With a running layup in the second quarter, Mount Ida College senior center Angelique Martinez (Taunton, Mass.) became the fourth women's basketball player in program history and the first since 2010 to join the 1,000 point club.
Martinez needed just four points to hit the milestone entering the game, a 63-45 non-conference loss to Salem State on Thursday evening at Mount Ida Athletic Center. She managed a pair of free throws in the first quarter and then hit a layup at 7:28 of the 2nd quarter to send the crowd into delirium and her teammates into a joyous mass of celebration on the court.
It was nearly a double milestone night for the post player, as she ended up with a double-double of 12 points and 16 rebounds, inching her to just eight rebounds away from the 1,000 milestone in that department. She will become the first ever Mustang to record 1,000 rebounds in a career, male or female.
Ultimately, however, it was the 25-point performance from Salem State senior Katilyn Bryan (Lowell, Mass.) that was too much for the Mustangs to overcome, as Salem State outscored the home team 26-10 in the fourth quarter to secure what was a two point lead heading into the final frame.
The Vikings (4-3) led by 13 points at the end of the first quarter, in which they made three three-pointers, but Mount Ida climbed back into the game, as Martinez's record-setting layup sparked a 10-2 run to close the gap to six points, and it eventually got to a 27-25 deficit by halftime for the home team.
The margin stayed at two points by the end of the third quarter, but Salem State shot 50% (8-16) from the floor in the final ten minutes and held Mount Ida to 0-7 from three-point in that quarter (1-20 for the game) to help them pull away.
Brittany Crosby (Riverside, R.I.) had the opposite double-double of Martinez, with a team-high 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Marysa Dwyer (Quincy, Mass.) provided eight points, two rebounds, two blocks and two steals off the bench.
For the Vikings, Kia Fernandes (Wareham, Mass.) had five rebounds in the first five minutes of the game and finished the night with 12 points and 10 boards.
Norma Waggett (Saugus, Mass.) added 12 points, five rebounds, three assists and four steals, and Bryan also had four steals and missed a double-double by one rebound.
In the Mount Ida record books, Martinez joins Cherie Parisi, who graduated in 2010, and two members of the class of 2007, Kristin Santos and Adrienne Xenos, as the only women's basketball players to have scored 1,000 career points.
The Mustangs (2-3) will finish their three-game run of state schools next Tuesday when they head to Fitchburg State for a 7:00 pm game.
Salem State heads to Maine the same day for a 5:30 pm date with the University of Southern Maine Huskies.