Box Score LYNDON CENTER, Vt. – It was a fight to the finish for the Lyndon State College women's basketball team Wednesday evening against the New England College Pilgrims. The Pilgrims voyaged on with the 54-50 victory.
Lyndon's Aimee Thompson (Barnet, Vt.) was just shy of a double-double with 11 points and 9 rebounds. Mikayla Hodge (Newbury, Vt.) tallied in 12 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 blocks, while Allison Brown (Monroe, N.H.) added 13 points and 4 rebounds.
NEC was led by Marjani Lillard (Bowie, Md.) with 14 points and 6 rebounds. Tiffany Davis (Baltimore, Md.) and Breana Ramirez (Paterson, N.J.) chipped in 11 and 8 points along with 7 rebounds each.
As the game began, both teams were seemingly still in warm-up mode as neither side brought energy to the court. Nonetheless, Hodge put the Hornets on the board first with a jump shot. NEC then went on a 9-0 run until Samantha Thurston (Bath, N.H.) banked in a layup. After a layup by Lillard, both teams were held scoreless for two minutes, until Shelby Sheridan (Enosburg Falls, Vt.) broke the silence with a layup of her own. In the final three minutes, Hodge rallied in four to the Pilgrim's two, ending the quarter with NEC up 13-10.
Hodge, Brown, and Thompson led the way for the Hornets in the second quarter rallying 12 points together to the Pilgrim's 15. At the half, the Hornets found themselves in a six point deficit, down 28-22.
In a low scoring third quarter, Lyndon was able to outscore the Pilgrims 10-8, coming within 4 at 36-32.
After a jump shot and foul shot from Thompson and a jump shot from Brown, the Hornets finally found themselves with the lead again, up 37-36. Brown and Thompson together collected 16 of Lyndon's 18 points; however, the Pilgrims evened it out with 18 of their own. An exciting fourth quarter saw seven lead changes, but the Pilgrims would come out on top with a 54-50 win.
Lyndon (4-17, 3-12 NAC) continues North Atlantic Conference play on Saturday, February 13th with a 1:00 p.m. tip at Johnson State College.
NEC (15-7, 9-6 NAC) travels to Thomas College on Friday for a 5:30 p.m. start.
