BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Sophomore forward Tianna Sugars (Oxford, Maine) earned Most Valuable Player honors to lead the Colby-Sawyer College women's basketball team to a 67-50 victory over host Bridgewater State University in the championship game of the 2017 Cave Classic Tip-Off Tournament on Saturday afternoon at the Tinsley Center.
Sugars posted a double-double with game-high totals of 22 points and 15 rebounds to lead the visiting Chargers to the tournament title.
Colby-Sawyer improves to 2-0 on the young season, while Bridgewater State falls to 1-1.
Sugars connected on 9 of 17 field goal attempts and six of her nine boards came off the offensive glass. Sophomore guard Lexie Hamilton (Sunapee, N.H.) also earned all-tournament honors for the Chargers. Hamilton tallied 17 points, four rebounds, a game-high ten assists and four steals.
Senior forward Emmani Robinson (Newburgh, N.Y.) contributed 12 points, nine rebounds and three steals, while senior guard Amanda Calvo (South Deerfield, Mass.) added 11 points for the Chargers who had four players finish in double-figure scoring.
Freshman forward Destiny Fitzgerald (Medford, Mass.) was named to the all-tournament team for the host Bears. Fitzgerald notched eight points, nine rebounds and a game-high seven blocked shots in the setback. She was one blocked shot shy of the Bears' single-game record of eight set by Colleen Feeney back in 2008 against Western New England.
Junior guard Sara DaSilva (Chelmsford, Mass.) scored a team best 11 points for Bridgewater State, while senior guard Rhiana Page (Brookline, Mass.) added ten points to go along with three assists. Senior forward Chanelle Melton (Brockton, Mass.) checked in with nine points, five rebounds and a pair of blocked shots in 22 minutes off the bench.
Colby-Sawyer used a 14-2 run over the final five minutes of the first quarter to erase an early four-point deficit (8-4) and open up a 18-10 lead. Five different players scored during the run.
The Chargers also went on 9-0 spurt to build a double-digit advantage in the second quarter as Hamilton and Sugar combined for all nine points. Hamilton's three-pointer capped off the run and gave the visitors a 29-14 lead with 4:22 remaining in the period. Colby-Sawyer would ultimately take a 32-20 lead into the break.
Hamilton led all players with 14 first-half points, while Sugars added eight and Robinson six. Fitzgerald scored eight points over the first 20 minutes to pace Bridgewater State.
Colby-Sawyer maintained a double-digit advantage the rest of the way and got up by as many as 22 points (65-43) following a Sugars layup with 2:35 remaining in the fourth quarter.
The Chargers shot 39% (26-66) for the game including 4-for-14 (29%) from behind the arc. Colby-Sawyer also connected on 11 of 12 (92%) free throw attempts.
The Bears knocked down 36% (21-59) of their field goal attempts and went just 1-for-10 (10%) from three-point range and 7-for-12 (58%) at the charity stripe.