The Colby-Sawyer women’s basketball team pulled away in the second half en route to a 74-49 victory over Johnson State in the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) quarterfinal contest on Tuesday, February 25.
Colby-Sawyer improves to 17-9 and will play third seed Maine Maritime, who beat sixth Maine-Farmington this evening. The contest will be played on Friday evening at Castleton. The Badgers end the season with a 7-19 record.
The game got off to a sluggish start as each side tried to get in the flow of playoff basketball. The first 11 minutes featured three ties and three lead changes. With the game tied 7-7, the visitors used an 8-4 spurt to take a 15-11 edge with 8:50 on the clock. Colby-Sawyer was able to find the range over the next several minutes and went in front, 24-15, after a 13-0 run was capped by a layup from senior Mari Meserve. After a trey by Johnson’s Eliannie Sola  halted the run, Colby-Sawyer scored nine of the next 11 points to go ahead 33-20. The Badgers received a pair of free throws from Sola to end the half with Colby-Sawyer leading 33-22.
Colby-Sawyer was able to gradually stretch its lead in the second half, which ballooned to 34 with 4:20 left, as the home team cruised to the 74-49 victory.
The Chargers made 12 two-point and 12 three-point baskets on the night.
Colby-Sawyer junior Kelsey Bragdon led all players with 18 points on 6-9 shooting. Senior Ashley Fruzzetti was the other Charger to finish in double figures with 12 points on four three-pointers. Meserve finished with six points and a game-high nine rebounds.
Johnson State was led by junior Brittany Robertson’s 12 points. Sola finished with 10 points on 3-4 shooting. Freshman Kasey DeGreenia had eight points and eight rebounds.