HIGGINS POURS IN CAREER-HIGH AS SAINTS SNEAK PAST NORWICH

NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Junior guard Sarah Higgins (Groveland, Mass.) netted a career-high 27 points to lead the Emmanuel College Women's Basketball Team to a 59-57 win at Norwich University on Saturday afternoon.  The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) victory helped the Saints improve to 7-8 on the season and stay perfect at 2-0 in the conference.  Norwich fell to 10-3 on the season and 2-2 in league play with the loss.

The last time these two teams met was in the quarterfinal round of last season's GNAC Tournament playoffs.  The game featured an overtime upset in which the 8th-seeded Cadets nipped the top-seeded Saints, 84-78.  Today's rematch was another close battle with nine ties and seven lead changes, before the visiting Saints came out on top in regulation.

With the score tied at 52-all and 1:53 remaining in the game, Higgins buried her third three-pointer of the day to push the Saints ahead for good.  Emmanuel drained four free throws down the stretch to seal the two-point victory.

Higgins' career-high mark came off of 50% field goal shooting, as she knocked down 11 of 22 from the floor on the day to go along with her four assists, three rebounds and two steals.  Higgins was the only double-figure scorer for EC.  Senior Jennifer Bujnowski (Salem, N.H.) hit for eight points and hauled in a team-high nine boards, while sophomore Jen Chalk (Horseheads, N.Y.) chipped in with seven points and five rebounds off the bench.  Rookie point guard Karlee Alves (Ellington, Conn.) returned to the starting line-up and dished out a game-high six assists in the win for the visitors.

For Norwich, Heather LeBlanc led the way with her double-double of 20 points and game-high 11 rebounds.  Shyann Josler added 14 points and Kelsey Lotti handed out six helpers to tie Emmanuel's Alves for game-high honors in assists.  The Cadets played without starting guard and leading scorer Aliah Curry, who averages close to 23 points per night.

The Saints were out-rebounded 45-41 on the day, but Emmanuel's defense forced 23 Norwich turnovers and EC capitalized, scoring 20 points off the Cadets miscues.

Emmanuel will take its 2-0 GNAC mark into its MLK Day match up with Rivier University.  The Saints will travel to Nashua, N.H.) for a 5:00 PM start with the Raiders on Monday.