NEW LONDON, N.H. — A shorthanded Middlebury College women’s basketball team on Saturday dropped its first game of the season, 72-65, to host Colby-Sawyer, which improved to 6-1.
The Panthers were playing without two injured starters. Junior forward Betsy Knox, who is averaging about 17 points and 10 rebounds per game, sat with what is described as a minor knee injury, while freshman guard Gianna Palli missed the game with an undisclosed ailment suffered earlier last week in a win over Sage.
The Panthers will wrap up their first semester with a Dec. 17 game at Nazareth next Tuesday at 4 p.m.
This past Saturday, the Panthers took an early 6-0 lead, but the Chargers rebounded to lead by 18-15 after one period and 34-29 at the half.
Colby-Sawyer then scored nine of the first 11 second-half points to lead by 43-31 at 8:15, and the Chargers led by nine entering the final period.
The lead grew to 60-45 with 7:24 remaining, but behind the scoring of Kira Waldman the Panthers closed the gap to 64-60 with 1:04 remaining, but get no closer.
Waldman netted a career-high 31 points for Middlebury, while also tying a team high seven rebounds, but was the only starter to shoot at least 50% from the floor. Reagan McDonald scored eight, and Maya Davis and Lily Kuntz added seven apiece. Davis finished with seven boards, while Alyna Baharozian had four assists.
Lexie Hamilton led the Chargers with 19 points to go along with eight rebounds, while Tianna Sugars netted 15 with 21 rebounds. Colby-Sawyer held a 52-37 edge on the boards.