HARTFORD, Conn. — To open New England Small College Athletic Conference play,
Tori Varsamis (Belmont, Mass.) led the charge for the Trinity College Women's Basketball team with a season-high 14 points in the dominate 67-43 victory over the visiting Colby College Mules on Friday. The Bantams improved to 12-1 on the season and 1-0 in the league, while dropped to 4-7 and 0-1. Trinity remains at home to face Bowdoin College on Saturday at 3 p.m. in Oosting Gymansium.
Lucy Dorion (Needham, Mass.) went airborne to notch the first basket for the Navy & Gold to put the team up 2-1 a minute and a half into the first quarter. A pair of baskets by the Mules grew the opponents lead by one before a three-point jumper by Dorion brought the home team up, 7-5. The visitors remained vigilant on the hardwood and kept it close for the Mules before back-to-back jumpers of the fingertips of
Bria Fuller (Springdale, Md.) regained the lead for Trinity after being knotted at nine a piece. Off a defensive rebound by
Reilly Campbell (Wallingford, Conn.), the junior center swished a jumper in the paint off the long pass from Fuller and sealed the Bantam lead for the remainder of the game. Varsamis first points of the night came off a deep three-pointer along the right side of the arc off a shifty pass from
Emma Wax (Pine Brook, N.J.) and put Trinity up 18-1 with two minutes remaining in the quarter. Nineteen seconds before the buzzer, Chelsea Ibenegbu made an easy layup in the paint off the pass from Lydia Mordaski to cut the deficit to within five as the Bantams led 21-16. Trinity went 3-3 in three-point buckets with one from Dorion and a pair coming off Varsamis.
Trinity went on a 13-2 run to open the second frame as Varsamis connected for her third straight three-pointer and Campbell had two blocks to keep the run alive. Ibenegbu's jumper with two and a half minutes remaining in the quarter cut off the explosive Trinity offensive but the heat quickly cooled off with a made free throw by
Madison Stevens (Burlington, Conn.) and a layup by Varsamis capped off the half, 37-20. Through the first two quarters, the Navy & Gold converted on seven Mule turnovers for nine points and five second-chance points, while the bench accounted for 19 points.
Four jumpers by Fuller, Wax and
Hannah Marzo (Shrewsbury, Mass.) to start the third quarter quickly grew the Trinity lead to 25. A three-pointer just outside the line by Wax setup by the defensive rebound from Marzo and the assist by Campbell recorded the highest lead of the game at 29 points as the Bantams led 52-23 halfway through the quarter. A steal by Campbell and Stevens in the later half of the third kept the home team heavily on top going into the final quarter, 53-28. The Mules revved up their energy in the fourth quarter with 15 points but they couldn't catch up to the hefty Trinity lead and fell 67-43.
Varsamis led the team in points and had two rebounds, an assist and a steal, while Campbell recorded 11 points, five rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal. Wax was energetic on the floor with nine points, four rebounds and three assists.
Samantha Slofkiss (Marlboro, N.J.) dominated off the bench as she went 4-5 for eight points with a trio of rebounds, an assist and a steal.
