COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College women's basketball team held off Dominican (N.Y.) University, 79-76, on Saturday at the Ross Sports Center during the Purple Knights' home opener.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (2-1), Dominican (1-3)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Junior Amber Furch (Los Angeles, Calif./Brentwood School), 16 points, 3 assists, 2 steals, 6-for-10 field goals
• Junior Bella Franchi (Colonie, N.Y./Colonie Central), 13 points, 3 steals, 5-for-8 field goals, 2-for-2 three-pointers
• Senior Molly Brophy (Greenwich, N.Y./Greenwich Central School), 11 points, 2 steals, 2-for-3 three-pointers
• Junior Ashlee Talbot (Dracut, Mass./Dracut), 11 points, 5-for-8 field goals
• Sophomore Margaret Montplaisir (Portsmouth, N.H./Portsmouth), 8 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 4-for-8 field goals
• Junior Ruby Santos (New Paltz, N.Y./Kent School), 8 points, 4 assists, 2 steals, 4-for-7 field goals
• Junior Jayla Tyler (Albany, N.Y./Colonie Central/Saint Rose), 7 points, 4 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 steals
• Sophomore Kelli Cieplicki (Colchester, Vt./Rice Memorial), 6 rebounds

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Senior Cayla Howard, 26 points, 9-for-18 field goals, 4-for-7 three-pointers
• First-year Ketura Rutty, 18 points, 11 rebounds (6 offensive), 4 assists, 8-for-14 field goals
• First-year Sky Priester, 17 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals, 7-for-14 field goals
• Junior Tamia Nunes, 15 points, 9 rebounds, 4 steals, 7-for-11 field goals

GAME FACTS

• The Purple Knights improved to 6-3 in the all-time series, hosting the Chargers for the first time since Nov. 20, 2011.
• Saint Michael's shot 50.8%, including 6-for-15 (40.0%) from three-point range.

THE ACTION

• Dominican never trailed in the opening quarter, taking its largest lead at 21-14 on Priester's steal and breakaway lay-up at the final buzzer. Howard had 12 points in that first stanza alone.
• Senior Ava MacDonough's (South Burlington, Vt./Rice Memorial) go-ahead three-pointer capped an 8-0 run to begin the second frame, but the Chargers broke a 31-all tie with a Priester lay-up at the two-minute mark. The visitors led 37-33 at halftime.
• Dominican extended its lead to six points twice in the third period, but Franchi had the final five points of a 7-0 spurt that gave Saint Michael's at 44-43 edge at 5:08, and Furch's lay-in with 25 ticks left sent her team into the final intermission up 51-47.
• Brophy, who netted all 11 of her points in the fourth quarter, buried a triple that pushed the lead to a game-high 63-53 with 5:27 remaining in the contest.
• After Rutty's three-point play trimmed the deficit to 70-66 at 2:08, Tyler responded with two free throws, and Franchi's bucket at 1:05 made it an eight-point game.
• Two Rutty baskets in the final 15 seconds had the Chargers down 78-76 before Brophy made a key free throw with 7.7 seconds left. Dominican's game-tying three-point try just before the buzzer was hauled in by Furch.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Tuesday at Southern Connecticut State University, 12 p.m.