Waterville, Maine- The Salem State Lady Viking¹s (4-2) made a run in the second half that the Colby College White Mules (3-5) offense could not match as Salem State went on to victory 60-44 today in women¹s basketball action at Wadsworth Gymnasium. Salem State was led by Edwina Ashe ¹03 (Lincoln, Mass.) who had 10 points and 15 rebounds, Casie Rhodes ¹02 (E. Greenwich, R.I.) who had 12 points, and Gillian Almeida ¹05 (Mattapoisett, Mass.) who had 10 points. Sarah Walsh ¹03 (Catonsville, Md.) led the White Mules in scoring, with 11 points, and rebounding, with 12 rebounds. A major factor in the game was Salem State¹s ability to get to the line, as the Lady Vikings hit 19-27 from the line, as opposed to Colby being 4-12 from the charity stripe.

The action in the first half was even for the most part, with Salem State clinging to a 21-19 lead at intermission. Colby threatened to make a run in the last two minutes of the half when Alyssa Henley ¹04 (Spokane, Va.) sealed off her defender and took a pretty entry pass to the net for a basket. Walsh took a charge for the Colby, temporarily energizing the Mules.

Salem State seemed to have the answer for every Colby spurt, and jumped out to an early lead in the second half on the Mules. Walsh looked to ignite the offense for a comeback with 14:30 left when she had a breakaway, pump-faked to get the Salem State defender in the air, and hit her lay-up to get Colby within six points. Ashe would answer for Salem State a few possessions later with a key put-back that put the Lady Vikings up by ten. Colby would make one last run at the lead off a Henley offensive rebound and put-back and a Katy Lawson ¹02 (Mount Desert Is., Maine) jumper to get the score to 37-31, but Salem turned the momentum around yet again. Almeida was huge down the stretch for Salem as she hit two baskets to put them up 50-42, a lead they would not relinquish.

Salem State (60) McCarthy 1-2-5, Ashe 5-0-10, Nichols 2-4-8, Almeida 4-2-10, Rhodes 3-6-12, Smolinsky 2-2-6, Ferreira 0-0-0, Klein 1-1-3, Lopes 0-0-0, Reardon 2-2-6, McCarter 0-0-0 Team 20-19-60

Colby College (44) Lawson 2-1-6, Chuprevich 3-2-8, O¹Donnell 0-0-0, Walsh 5-1-11, Burrows 2-1-5, Keto 1-0-2, Bonner 1-0-2, Henley 4-0-8, Bourque 1-0-2 Team 19-4-44

Three Pointers- Salem- McCarthy Colby- Lawson, Burrows