Women's Basketball Falls to Saint Michael's 51-41
Springfield, Mass. - Alexis Castro (Chula Vista,
Calif.) earned a double-double, scoring 16 points while
adding a season-high 16 rebounds, but the pesky Purple Knights of
St. Michael's College grabbed their ninth victory in conference
play, downing the AIC women's basketball squad 51-41 Saturday
afternoon in the Butova Gymnasium.
The Yellow Jackets began the contest on a 12-0 run, shutting out St. Michael's for over six minutes. After the Purple Knights got on the board via a three-pointer from junior Logan Pintka, they never looked back, finishing the first-half on a 24-6 run. Pintka led all scorers with 17 points.
AIC stepped up the defensive tempo in the second-half, but turned the ball over 12 times, squandering their opportunities to grab the lead. St. Michael's shot 43.8% from the floor and outshot the Jackets from the line 72.2% (13-28) to 16.7% (1-6) in the second stanza.
American International got within six points with just under six minutes to go in the contest, following a tenacious rebound and put back from senior Mirlande Francois (Miami, FL). The Yellow Jackets then stole the ball on the following St. Mike's possession but couldn't finish a fast-break and fouled Pintka, who pulled down the rebound and sunk both foul shots. AIC never chipped any closer than eight points after that point.
Junior Stacy Boisvert (Agawam, Mass.) scored six, graduate-student Alissa Rubino totaled five while Francois and graduate-student Molly Large (Lansing, Mich.) each chipped in with four points for the Yellow Jackets. Alexis Keller dropped seven points while Amy Pithers and Allison Dunn each totaled six points for the Purple Knights.
The win propels St. Michael's to 11-7 overall and 7-6 in the Northeast-10 while the loss drops the Yellow Jackets to 11-7 overall and 8-6 in conference play. St. Michael's also snaped a three game winning streak AIC held, that dated back to last season and one match-up this year.
Castro, who is the reigning Northeast-10 Player of the Week, needs only one point to earn 1,500 for her collegiate career.
The Yellow Jackets will hit the road to take on Assumption, Wednesday night at 5:30 pm.