WBB Drops Season Opener At Mount Ida College 74-63

WBB Drops Season Opener At Mount Ida College 74-63

NEWTON, Mass. - Sophomore center Katie Morvan (Northbridge, MA/Northbridge) recorded her first double-double of the season with 14 points and 15 rebounds along with five blocks to lead the Mount Ida College women's basketball team to their first victory of the season winning 74-63 over visiting non-conference Curry College Tuesday night in Newton, Massachusetts.  The Mustangs improve to 1-1 overall while the Colonels drop their season opener falling to 0-1 with neither team yet to play a conference game.

After an opening three pointer by the visitors, the Mustangs rallied a 9-0 run to pull ahead by six up 9-3 after a jumper in the paint by Morvan with 17:22 in the first.  The Mustangs maintained the advantage riding another 9-0 run after consecutive three pointers by sophomore Jeileen Rivera (Springfield, MA/Springfield Central) and freshman Missy Collins (East Hartford, CT/East Hartford) with 9:43 to go in the half. 

The Mustangs went cold towards the end of the first stanza giving up a 14-0 run to the Colonels handing the visitors the 27-22 lead with 3:35 remaining before the break.  The Curry charge was led by a barrage of offense led by freshman Hailey Rafferty (Worcester, MA/Holy Name), sophomore Lauren Bennett (North Brookfield, MA/North Brookfield), and junior Jennifer Olejnik (Salem, MA/Salem).

The Mustangs came stampeding back to pull ahead by three up 35-32 at halftime going on a 13-5 run.  Senior Cherie Parisi (South Attleboro, MA/Attleboro) sparked the fire with four good free throws followed by a missile from three point land by freshman Ashley White (Salem, MA/Salem) with the Mustangs holding the three point lead.

The hosts came out hot building a 10 point lead up 45-35 with 15:42 to go in the second half capped off by a senior Nicole Casimiro (Lee, NH/Oyster River) trifecta.  It went back and forth for the next five minutes when the visitors slowly creeping back and eventually pulling within a point trailing 51-50 after a good free throw by Rafferty around the 10 minute mark. 

Mount Ida built another small margin up eight points immediately following led by two three pointers, one by Parisi along with a free throw, and the other from Collins to hold a 57-50 advantage with 9:38 on the clock. 

The visitors would not go quietly after the Mustangs tried to shut off their momentum but failed while the Colonels powered a 10-1 run to pull ahead by a point (60-59) with 6:40 showing on the clock.  Mount Ida had seen enough and took over the rest of the half with an outstanding offensive attack and pulverizing defense to stymie their opponents and take a nine point advantage after a three point play by Morvan with 3:18 to go (68-60).

The Mustangs sealed the 11 point victory with junior Becky Tisbert (Cambridge, VT/Lamoille Union) cashing in going 3-4 from the charity stripe in the final ticks.  The Mustangs eventually captured the 74-63 victory, their first of the season.

Along with Morvan, Mount Ida saw numerous outstanding individual performances.  Three other Mustangs were in double figures with Casimiro chipping in a team high 15 points, five assists, and four blocks.  Parisi and Collins chipped in 12 and 11 respectively along with a combined nine rebounds.  The Colonels were led by Olejnik who had a game high 16 points and five boards while teammate Rafferty netted 13 points and seven caroms.  Both teams had trouble holding on to the ball with a combined 74 turnovers and 44 personal fouls.