Poultney, VT – The Fisher Falcons couldn't preserve a three point half time lead falling to the Green Mountain College Eagles, 61-46, in non-conference action Tuesday night.
The game began slowly as both teams felt each other out leading to a low-scoring opening ten minutes. At the midway point in the half the visiting Falcons led the Eagles 15-8. Through the next ten minutes the women stepped up their defensive effort and were more composed on the offensive end leading to more quality chances. The Eagles converted on many of those chances and outscored the Falcons 13-9 after the midway point of the half, closing the Falcon lead to 24-21 as the half expired.
At the half, the Eagles were paced in scoring by junior forward Jacque Caster (Seneca Falls, NY) who had 7 points. Senior forward Chanleigh Casey (Hartford, NY) proved to be a force on the offensive glass with 5 offensive rebounds and 7 in total in addition to her 5 points. Leading the Falcon attack was sophomore guard Javanna Bernard (Waterbury, CT) who led all scorers at the half with 9 points. Senior forward Amanda Davis (Dos Palos, CA) and senior forward Makenzi Peeler (Boston, MA) provided the board work, both pulling down 8 boards. The Falcons enjoyed the shooting advantage in the first half shooting 31.4% from the field compared to just 24.2% by the Eagles
The second half was a totally different story than the first with both teams making a concerted effort to push the ball up the floor. This led to more offensive chances for both teams. Green Mountain was able to limit Fisher from getting many good looks at the basket, yet at the same time move the ball effectively to gain some easy baskets of their own. Within the first ten minutes, the Eagles had established a commanding 48-34 lead by outscoring the Falcons 17-10. The rest of the second half saw an opportunistic Eagle offense capitalize time and time again off of Falcon misses and turnovers. The final score was 61-46 for the Eagles pushing their overall record to 2-3. The loss for the Falcons runs their record to 0-7 on the year.
Casey and junior guard Chelsea Paul (Northville, NY) led the Eagles, both registering double-doubles on the night. Casey recorded 11 points and 14 rebounds, while Paul scored 12 points to go along with her 10 boards. The leading scorer for Green Mountain was Caster and senior guard Victoria Mullins (Neptune, NJ), each pouring in 13 points on the evening. The Falcons were led on offense by Bernard who tallied 14 points. Peeler notched a game-high 16 rebounds to complement her 9 points on the night. As a team, the Eagles shot 34.8% from the field and 70.6% from the charity stripe. The Falcons shot 23.0% as a team from the field while shooting 47.6% from the line.
Fisher will return home to take on Point Park University on Thursday, December 1st at 6 p.m.