Caitlyn Perry records career point #1000 in Women's Basketball loss to Norwich

(Northfield, Vermont) The Rivier University Women's Basketball team saw junior Caitlyn Perry (Nashua, N.H.) surpass the 1,000 career point mark but dropped a tough road contest this afternoon at Norwich University, 76-72 in the final Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) game of the season. Rivier slides to 9-16 overall with a 3-7 GNAC record while clinching the eighth seed in the upcoming conference tournament. Norwich, meanwhile, moves to 14-11 overall and with a 6-5 GNAC mark – they earned the tournament's fifth seed.

Junior Caitlyn Perry (Nashua, N.H.) led the Raiders in scoring with 29 points with freshman Kaylee Kacavas (Dracut, Mass.) adding 22 points with five shots from the three point range. Junior Savanna Butterfield (Londonderry, N.H.) pulled down a team-high eight rebounds and came up with a pair of blocks to go with the seven points scored.

Senior guard Leah Turcottee (North Highlands, Calif.) was honored by prior to the start of the contest. In the 22 games played, Turcottee collected 47 points, 31 rebounds, 26 assists and 11 steals over the course of four years.

Junior forward Heather LeBlanc (Sandford, Maine) led all Norwich players with a career game-high 25 points on a 12-17 shooting from the floor, while classmate Kayla Mercer (New Britian, Conn.) and sophomore Shyann Josler (Thetford, Vt.) each added 16 points. Sophomore Arianna Harrison (Vernon, Vt.) contributed 10 points along with six rebounds and two assists, while junior Leanne Winans (Hudson, N.H.) pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds and tallied six points and three assists in the win.

After 10 minutes of play, which included Perry achieving her 1,000th career point, with the Raiders leading 14-13, the Cadets opened the second quarter with a trio of treys in the 12-5 run to lead 25-19 at the 6:13 mark. Norwich's maintained the lead, which swelled to 15 with 28 seconds on the clock before the Raiders made three free throws in the closing seconds to trail 40-28 at the break.

Norwich saw its lead diminish to just five points midway through the third quarter as the Raiders scored seven of the 14 points from the stripe to trail 47-42. Norwich responded with a 9-4 run in the closing minutes of the third to lead by 10 points, 56-46, after 30 minutes of competition.

Norwich would lead by 13 in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter before the Raiders rallied on an 14-4 run in the next four minutes before Kacavas made a layup to tie up the game at 69 points apiece at the 2:42 mark. Both teams found themselves in foul trouble down the stretch and the final three minutes would become a battle of shots from the stripe. Rivier struggled to find the basket in the closing minutes, scoring a three-pointer from Perry, as Norwich made five the seven points from the line to put the game out of reach and clinch the 76-72 victory.

Rivier finished the day making 35.1 percent (20-57) from the floor and made just nine-of-23 from deep, while making 69.7 percent (23-33) from the line. Norwich shot 45.9 percent (28-61) from the field and 5-18 from beyond the arc, while making 71.4 percent (15-21) of the shots from the charity stripe. The Cadets out-rebounded RIvier, 41-33, and picked up 22 assists with 40 points being scored in the paint.

Rivier finished eighth and will take on top-seeded Saint Joseph's Maine on Tuesday, Feb. 23 for the 7:00 p.m. tipoff. Norwich, which finished fifth in the league standings, will travel to fourth-seeded Suffolk University in the quarterfinal round of the GNAC Tournament on the same date for the 7:00 p.m. contest.