BOSTON, Mass. – Simmons College junior forward Presley Silva (Wilmington, Mass.) led all scorers with 19 points, matching a career-high, to propel the Sharks women's basketball team past Mount Ida College, 78-44, on a snowy Saturday afternoon in Great Northeast Athletic Conference play at Moore Gymnasium in Boston, Mass.
The Mustangs drop to 3-7 and 0-2 in the GNAC, while Simmons improves to 3-5 overall and a perfect 3-0 in league play.
The Sharks took advantage of 32 turnovers, outscoring the Mustangs, 37-7 in points off turnovers, including 23-3 in the first half. Simmons dominated the boards, owning a 55-44 rebounding advantage and held a 22-6 scoring margin in second chance points. The home team registered season highs in points (78), rebounds (55), assists (19), steals (20), blocks (9) and field goal percentage (39.5%/32-81) for the game.
The Mustangs received 14 points and five boards from junior forward Imani Bumpus (West Hartford, Conn.) in only 19 minutes of action, while senior forward Brittany Crosby (Riverside, R.I.) pitched in with eight points, three rebounds and a pair of steals.
Silva was 7-12 from the floor and notched a double-double with a career-high 13 rebounds and equaled her lifetime best with five blocks in addition to a pair of steals and an assist for the Sharks. Senior guard Jamie Zoldy (Watertown, Conn.) netted 13 points and dished out five assists to go with four rebounds and a steal and first year forward Kirra Courchesne (Wilmington, Vt.) broke out with a career-high 13 points and added five rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot in 18 minutes off the bench.
Simmons sophomore guard Rebekah Carroll (Londonderry, N.H.) contributed with a career-high matching seven assists and also scored three points, grabbed three rebounds and made three steals.
Mount Ida held a 4-2 lead at the 7:46 mark of the first quarter, but Simmons responded with an 8-0 run sparked by four points from junior forward Liz Brasa (East Hartford, Conn.) to take a 10-4 cushion midway through the period. The Sharks scored 12 points off turnovers in the opening quarter and finished the period with an 18-9 lead.
The Mustangs opened the second quarter with five straight points after an early Simmons bucket to cut the deficit to 20-14 after a layup and a free throw from first year guard Alisa Benson (Middletown, RI.). The teams traded baskets before Mount Ida's Crosby netted a basket to reduce the Sharks' lead to four (22-18) at the 6:04 mark. That's as close as Mount Ida would get as Simmons would close the half on a 15-5 run to make it 38-23 at the intermission. Zoldy and Silva had five and four points, respectively, during the stretch.
Mount Ida opened the scoring in the fourth quarter with a quick basket by Crosby but was held scoreless for the next four minutes as the Sharks increased the lead to 73-38 with 4:25 remaining. Simmons scored 16 straight points during the visitors' scoring drought with scoring contributions from seven different players. Courchesne later gave Simmons its largest lead of the game on a three-point play, including a free throw to make it 76-39 with 3:29 to play in the game.
Simmons is back in action on Tuesday, January 10 when it travels to West Haven, Conn. to take on conference foe University of Saint Joseph at 7:00 p.m., while the Mustangs play host to GNAC opponent Emmanuel College for a 6:00 p.m. tipoff on the same date.