Fitchburg State Rallies Past Middlebury, 63-58

Fluet leads Falcons to 2-0 start with victory over NESCAC Panthers

NEW LONDON, N.H. (November 16, 2013) - The Fitchburg State women's basketball team edged Middlebury College, 63-58 in a neutral site game held at Colby-Sawyer College Saturday afternoon. 

The Falcons won both of their games at this weekend's Colby-Sawyer Tip-Off and will travel to Nichols on Thursday for a 6:00 p.m. tip. Middlebury drops its season opener and will play Colby-Sawyer on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

The first ten minutes of the contest was controlled by the Falcons as Middlebury had trouble on the offensive end. Fitchburg scored the first nine points before the Panthers received a made jumper by Siobhan O'Sullivan (Reading, Mass.). The Falcons pushed its advantage to 12 on two occasions, but Middlebury slowly clawed back by connecting on 12 of 14 free throws in the frame. Trailing 26-18 with less than four minutes in the half, Middlebury closed the half on a 9-2 run capped by a pair of free throws junior Rachel Crews (South Burlington, Vt.) to cut the deficit to 28-27 at the break.

Middlebury scored the opening bucket of the second half to take its first lead of the game. The teams would go back and forth for the next 12 minutes with five ties and five lead changes, but junior Rebecca Fluet (Fitchburg, Mass.) hit a jumper to put the Falcons in front 45-43 at the 7:49 mark. Fitchburg held a slim lead over the next six minutes, but Laura Lowry (West Hartford, Conn.) connected on a three-pointer to take a 58-57 lead with 46 seconds remaining. Fluet was then fouled and knocked down a pair of free throws to give Fitchburg State the one point advantage. A pair of Middlebury miscues and four more made free throws put the game away for Fitchburg, 63-58.

Fluet led the Falcons with 15 points and a game-high seven assists, while junior Laura Cote (Ashby, Mass.) chipped in 14 points and four steals. Senior Amy Fahey (Wilmington, Mass.) was the third Fitchburg player in double figures with 12, while also adding a game best five blocks.

Middlebury was led by an impressive double-double from senior Katie Pett (Saginaw, Mich.). She had 16 points and was the only player in the game with double digit rebounds with 23. Lowry finished with 11 points and senior Sarah Marcus (Williamsville, N.Y.) registered 10 points.