Women's Basketball: DeBaldo's career high 21 points lifts Raiders past Norwich, 73-69

(Nashua, N.H.) Senior Rebecca DeBaldo (Pelham, N.H.) scored a career-high 21 points and classmate Savanna Butterfield (Londonderry, N.H.) drew a charge with seconds to go as the Rivier University Women's Basketball team snapped a seven game losing streak with a thrilling 73-69 victory over visiting Norwich University inside the Muldoon Gymnasium this afternoon in Great Northeast Athletic Conference play. The win bumps the Raiders' overall record to 4-11 and they are now 2-6 in the GNAC-North while the Cadets stumble to 9-7 overall and 5-4 in the GNAC-North.

Norwich had a chance to tie the game but senior Adrianna Harrison (Vernon, Vt.) was called for the offensive charge when she ran into Butterfield with 6.1 seconds remaining and sophomore Kaylee Kacavas (Dracut, Mass.) calmly knocked down a pair of free throws to seal the win for the Raiders.

DeBaldo was magnificent all afternoon for Rivier as she totaled 21 points, collected six rebounds while shooting a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe. Bulger was just as impressive as she poured in 20 points with two blocked shots and Kacavas finished with 17 points and seven rebounds.

Norwich was led by senior Kayla Mercer (New Britain, Conn.) who shot 5-for-11 from 3-point land for a team-high 19 points and Harrison finished with 18 points and 8 rebounds. Also reaching double-figures for the Cadets was senior Heather LeBlanc (Sanford, Maine) who ended the afternoon with 16 points and six rebounds.

The Raiders will look to make it two in a row as they return to the hardwood on Thursday night with a road trip to the University of Saint Joseph in Connecticut. Game time is set for 7pm in West Hartford. Norwich, meanwhile, will step outside of GNAC play to host Lyndon State on Tuesday night.