MIDDLEBURY — Visiting Castleton State edged the Middlebury College women’s basketball team on Tuesday, 53-51, when Castleton’s Jade Desroches converted a tie-breaking coast-to-coast lay-in with four seconds to go. 
The Panthers dropped to 2-3 and will close out their first semester play with a game at Skidmore on Saturday. Castleton improved to 4-1.
Castleton jumped out to an early 14-6 lead behind six points from Alyssa Leonard. The lead grew to 27-16 at 6:17 before the Panthers closed out the half on a 14-6 run. Laura Lowry led the charge with eight points, including two threes and two assists, and it was 33-30, Spartans, at the break.
Castleton built another 11-point lead by scoring the first eight points of the second half, five from Liz Douglass. The Panthers responded with an 18-6 run over the next nine minutes to take the lead on a three-ball from Rachel Crews at 5:01. Crews contributed 10 points, including two threes, during the comeback, while Katie Pett added two baskets.
After a Spartan bucket at 3:36 gave Castleton the lead, Sarah Marcus hit a free throw to tie it at 49-all with 1:42 left to play. Leonard and Pett exchanged baskets before Castleton called time-out at 1:03 with the game knotted at 51 apiece.
The Spartans then missed a three, and Marcus collected the rebound at with 42 seconds on the clock. Douglass blocked a Middlebury lay-up, but the Panthers retained possession with 20 seconds left.
At 0:14, Desroches blocked a Lowry shot near the low block, got the rebound and raced the length of the court for the game-winner at 0:04. Lowry launched a mid-court potential game-winner, but it caromed off the back of the rim as time expired.
Crews finished with a dozen points, while Elizabeth Knox netted 12 and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds. Lowry finished with 10 points and four assists, and Pett grabbed 10 boards to go along with eight points.
Douglass netted 13 points with four assists, while Desroches added 11 and Leonard chipped in 10 points with nine rebounds. Heather Murdough collected 11 caroms and blocked a pair of shots for CSC.