Vellek Hits 1000 Points
December 5, 2012

Vellek Hits 1000 Points

NHTI defeat Lady Knights

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Randolph Center, VT - Senior Captain Kelly Vellek (Burlington, VT) eclipsed a career milestone in scoring her 1000th point in the game against NHTI. Vellek finished with 14 points, but it was not enough as the Lynx were able to defeat the Lady Knights on their home court by the final of 77-55.

NHTI came out of the gates hot, with Jordan Phinney connecting on her first three three pointers and Sara Romano hitting one of her own. Before the Lady Knights knew what hit them it was 17-4 with 15:18 left in the first half. Point Guard and Captain Ama Baker (Jr./Fitchburg, MA) attempted to take the team on her back to keep them in the game. She scored VTC's first seven points, and was the only one on the team to score before Paige Wells (So./Orleans, VT) was able to get on the board with a layup at the 13:29 mark. Baker fiinished with a game-high 21 points, as well as 8 rebounds and 4 assists.

Throughout the first half the Lady Knights clawed their way back, basket by basket. After NHTI's scorching start, and Baker's initial run Wells scored 5 straight to cut the Lynx lead to just 6. Wells was key to keeping the game within reach, and finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 4 steals. Phinney, who had 20 points, 7 rebounds in the game hit on another shot to extend the lead once more. Kelly Collins, with her 20 points, 14 rebounds was also essential in keeping the Knights at bay. The half came to a close with the scorfe 42-34 in favor of NHTI.

The second began relatively slowly for each team, with a few inital baskets exchange followed by a four minute scoreless period with the score 44-38. Hannah Gusselli stopped the draught with a jumper, followed by Vellek doing the same shortly thereafter. NHTI then opened up a 13 point lead by going on a 9-2 run, keyed by Romano, who finished the game with 13 points. The Knights would never again get the score closer than 13, as the Lynx answered every basket and capitalized on missed free throws to extend the lead to the eventual number of 22.  

Rebounding and 2nd chance points again hurt the Knights, as they were out-rebounded 46-32 and out-scored in 2nd chance points 28-18. The Lynx were also incredibly efficient in converting turnovers to points, as they utilized the 11 VTC turnovers to score 21 points, as opposed to VTC only using the 19 committed by NHTI to score 8.

The Lady Knights finish the first semester with a record of 6-4, 3-3, ranked #11 in the nation. Their next game is a ways off, as they will have the entire winter break to regroup from the first two months of competition and prepare for the remainder of their season. The Knights begin early, with their first contest of the New Year occurring on Saturday, January 5th at SUNY Canton. The ladies return to Vermont immediately after, and will host the first home game of 2013 on Monday, January 7th against the University of Maine-Fort Kent. Both games will be difficult, as SUNY and Fort Kent are both USCAA Division I opponents.