NEW LONDON — Senior Tianna Sugars (Oxford, Maine) became the 15th player in Colby-Sawyer women’s basketball history to reach 1,000 career points as she led all players with 28 to help the Chargers defeat Saint Lawrence, 63-58, in the championship game of the 2019 Colby-Sawyer Tip-Off Tournament. Sugars was named Tournament MVP.
Colby-Sawyer improves to 3-0 and will hit the road for the first time Friday to play last year’s National Championship Runner-up Bowdoin on the first day of the Cave Classic hosted by Bridgewater State. Saint Lawrence dips to 1-2 and will played at Plattsburgh State on Tuesday.
Saturday’s matchup featured a pair of former Sunapee High School teammates in senior Lexie Hamilton of Colby-Sawyer and Katie Frederick of Saint Lawrence.
Sugars achieved the milestone right before the end of the second quarter with a pair of free throws. She recorded her third double-double of the season with 28 points and 18 rebounds. She was a perfect 10-10 from the free throw line. Sugars climbed into eighth in career rebounds with 714 to pass current assistant coach Noelle Surette ‘08. Senior Lexie Hamilton finished with 10 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
Saint Lawrence had four players in double figures led by Katie Frederick with 12 on 5-7 shooting. Frederick grabbed a team best 12 rebounds. First-years Olivia Middleton (Barrington, R.I.) and Nicole Jeffrey (Norwich, N.Y.) each scored 11, while senior Annabella Pugliese (Charlotte, Vt.) added 10.
The first quarter was back and forth as each team tried to get into a flow, playing their second game in less than 24 hours. The frame had four ties and three lead changes. With the score knotted at 11-11, Colby-Sawyer first-year Sydney Noyes (Newbury, Mass.) hit a jumper in the paint, in the final seconds, to give the home team a 13-11 lead after one.
Colby-Sawyer began the second quarter with an 8-2 run, capped by a Joslin Wainwright (Plainfield, N.H.) layup. The Saints battled back with an 11-4 run that included a trey by sophomore Ava McCann (Binghamton, N.Y.). Another three-point by the Saints’ Caroline Rodi (Lyme, N.H.) pulled the visitors within a pair at 29-27 with 2:14 left in the half. The two free throws by Sugars with 22 seconds on the clock were the final points of the half that gave Colby-Sawyer a 31-27 advantage. She had 12 points in the quarter.
Saint Lawrence erased the deficit in the third quarter by holding Colby-Sawyer to 25% shooting. After a Pugliese jumper gave the Saints a six-point lead, 43-37, the Chargers came storming back with free throws by Sugars and a pair of jumpers by Hamilton to tie the score at 43-43 heading into the fourth.
Trailing 48-47, three minutes into the fourth, Colby-Sawyer used a 9-0 spurt to take a 56-48 lead. First-year Caitlyn Boucher (Swanzey, N.H.) hit a big three in the run. The Saints chipped away to pull within one after a trey from Jeffrey. With 1:13 showing on the clock and Colby-Sawyer holding a 57-55 lead, Hamilton drove the lane and was fouled while making a running jumper. She converted the free throw to put the Chargers on top by five and help secure the victory.
Colby-Sawyer outrebounded the Saints 45-40.
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