Box Score

DUDLEY, Mass. – Junior Kasey Pelletier (Dunstable, Mass.) led three student-athletes in double-figures with a game-high 16 points as the Nichols College women's basketball team opened the 2012-13 season under first-year head coach Alice Mullen with a 76-43 win over Lyndon State College in non-conference action Saturday afternoon at the Nichols Athletic Center.

Senior Hayley Zophin (Framingham, Mass.) and sophomore Sarah Whitestone (Dalton, Mass.) added 14 and 10 points, respectively, as the Bison recorded their largest margin of victory since a 74-34 triumph over Lasell on November 16, 2010.  Nichols connected on 48.3 percent of its field goal attempts and racked up assists on 19 of their 29 field goals (65.5 pct.).

The Bison – who like the men before them, led wire-to-wire – scored the first seven points of the game and found themselves ahead by 10 following a layup by senior captain Kristina Lindgren (Sturbridge, Mass.) eight-and-a-half minutes into the contest. A pair of free throws by sophomore Alexis Wegrzynek (Wilbraham, Mass.) midway through the stanza put the Bison ahead 21-8 en route to a 38-15 halftime lead. Pelletier paced Nichols with eight points while Zophin netted seven and Whitestone recorded five. The Hornets, meanwhile, made just five of their 24 field goal attempts and turned the ball over 15 times.

Nichols hot shooting continued in the second half as the Bison nailed 50 percent of their field goal (14-of-28) attempts and never let their lead dip below 20. Junior Devon Spirka (Wilmington, Vt.) – playing her first game at Nichols – dished out a game-high seven assists to go along with eight boards and a game-high four steals.

Overall, 10 different student-athletes scored for the Bison, who finished the game a shade below 50.0 pct. shooting at 48.3. They also held a 44-42 edge on the glass, led by Spirka's eight and seven from Zophin.

“It was great to see everyone involved in the win,” said Mullen, who was an assistant on the Bison coaching staff last season. “We have to clean up some things on defense, but we recorded assists on nearly two-thirds of our buckets and moved the ball very well at times.”

Junior Chelsea Watson (Eliot, Maine) was the only Lyndon State student-athlete to reach double-figures, scoring 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting. Sophomores Dannika Dobrowski (Planfield, Conn.) and Emily Gray (Quincy, Mass.) each netted seven points while freshman Chelsea Bagly (Wallingford, Vt.) snared a team-high six rebounds.

Nichols returns to action on Nov. 26 with a 5:30 p.m. contest at Fitchburg State. The Hornets (0-1) face Wheelock Sunday at 1 p.m.