Badgers Bounce Bay Path 74-43

The Johnson State College women's basketball team froced 38 Bay Path College turnovers and used the extra possessions to out-shoot the visitors 80-38 for the eontest en route to a 74-43 North Atlantic Conference (NAC) victory on Thursday.

Senior forward Kaci Spears (Vergennes, VT/Vergennes) led the Badgers in the scoring and rebounding tallying 18 points and nine boards.  Junior forward Sarah Bose (Enosburg Falls, VT/Enosburg) added 17 points while freshman guard Jenna Lewis (Middlebury, VT/Middlebury) chipped in with 12 points.  Freshman guard Staci Cutting (Rochester, VT/Rochester) set a school record collecting 10 steals on the night.  Cutting also scored eight points and dished out a game-high five assists.

Sophomore forward Chrissy Ordyna (Great Barrington, MA/Monument Mountain)paced the Wildcats with a game-high 23 points and also grabbed eight rebounds.  Sophomore wing Hilary Bielunis (Hatfield, MA/Smith Academy) scored 16 points and hauled down a game-high 12 rebounds for a Bay Path squad that only dressed six players for the game.

The Badgers slowly pulled ahead throughout the first half behind the scoring of Spear and Bose and the stifling perimeter defense of Cutting and Lewis and entered the locker room at half time with a 40-18 lead.  The Wildcats' Heidi Lara (Bellingham, MA/Bellingham) fouled out with 15:00 minutes remaining in the contest leaving the visitors from Longmeadow, Massachusetts, with only five players available to finish the game.  The Wildcats fought hard but could not keep up with the Badgers.

Bay Path (0-9; 0-7 NAC) will host Lasell College on Saturday, January 21, in their next contest