Johnson State College womens basketball saw visiting New England College turn a five-point halftime lead into a comfortable road victory on Thursday night, Nov. 29, at Carter Gymnasium as the Pilgrims dispatched the Badgers 91-60 in North Atlantic Conference opener for both teams.  NEC improves to 5-1, 1-0 NAC while Johnson slides to 2-4, 0-1 NAC.

The Pilgrims put five players in double-figures led by sophomore Kayla Lawlor (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) and her 29 point outburst.  Lawlor added six assists and seven rebounds to her line as the lefty went 10-of-17 from the field and 4-of-8 from the 3-point line.  Allison Beck (Potomac, Md.) had 13 points, Markey Flewelling (Portsmouth, N.H.) and Nicole Lanteri (Poughquog, N.Y.) each had 12 points, and Kate Levy (Falmouth, Mass.) added 11.

Johnson was led by sophomore Brittany Robertson (Burlington, Vt./Burlington) who scored 18 points while freshman Mary Richardson (Vernon, Vt./Brattleboro) tossed in 16 points.  Junior forward Jenessa Swainbank (Enosburg Falls, Vt./Enosburg) supplied 11 points and five boards.

NEC would knock down 10 3-point field goals in the game and force 26 Johnson turnovers for their fourth consecutive win.
Johnson opened up the game on a 9-2 run getting the first two buckets from Richardson followed up by a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws from Robertson.  NEC would knot the game at 9-9 and then the teams would play a competitive first half with the Pilgrims taking an eight-point lead with 5:08 to play in the stanza and Johnson closing the gap to five before the halftime break.
The Badgers would remain close over the first seven minutes of the second half with a pair of Robertson free throws with 12:26 making the score 56-49.  The Pilgrims would find their stride after scoring 35 points in the final 12 minutes and holding Johnson to five field goals in that closing stretch.