AMHERST, Mass. – First-year guard AnLing Vera tallied 20 points and made 3 steals to lead the Amherst College women's basketball team to a 49-42 victory in an electric NESCAC matchup against Trinity College in LeFrak Gymnasium on Friday night.

The Mammoths, ranked 11th in the nation in the D3hoops.com poll and 10th in the WBCA Coaches Poll, protected their now eight-game winning streak to rise to an 18-2 overall record and handed the Bantams their first loss in five games as Trinity falls to 15-5 overall.

Amherst's win put the Mammoths in a tie with Trinity at the top of NESCAC standings with the conference rivals both at 7-2 but Amherst owns the tiebreaker by virtue of tonight's head-to-head win. The tie won't last long, though, as Trinity visits Hamilton tomorrow while Amherst's game with Connecticut College has been canceled, meaning Amherst's conference schedule is complete while Trinity will finish a half-game either ahead or behind the Mammoths with seeding in the upcoming NESCAC Tournament determined by winning percentage. Tufts also finished the night at 7-2 after a win at Middlebury and the Jumbos will visit Williams tomorrow.

Before the game, the Mammoths honored their five seniors: Jade DuVal, Lauren Pelosi, Courtney Resch, Dani Valdez and Gabrielle Zaffiro, who were all playing in their final NESCAC regular-season game at LeFrak Gymnasium.

The Mammoths return to action on Monday (Feb. 14), hosting New Jersey City for a non-conference matchup before the NESCAC Tournament gets underway next weekend.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

* At a 12-12 tie two minutes into the second quarter, Vera made a layup off of a fast break across the court while being fouled. She completed the three-point play to give the Mammoths a 15-12 lead, Amherst's first lead since Valdez opened the scoring with a layup at the beginning of the first quarter.

* With six seconds left in the second quarter after a successful Amherst free throw, Trinity hurried the ball across the court and Tori Varsamis sank a buzzer-beating three-pointer, which allowed Trinity to enter the third quarter with a 19-21 lead.

* The lead changed four times in the third quarter, with Amherst and Trinity both shooting 33 percent from the floor in a bitter back and forth. A scoreless final two minutes was nonetheless very contentious, with Trinity's Elizabeth Althoff and Varsamis making key blocks, while Vera answered them with two consecutive steals.

* After Zaffiro scored a three-pointer in the fourth to give Amherst a 37-35 lead, the Mammoths didn't look back, and protected their lead to the end of the game, shooting 6-of-15 in the fourth quarter against Trinity's 4-of-15. Amherst padded the lead with free throws in the final minutes to prevent a comeback and end up on top.



BY THE NUMBERS

* Although both teams posted a similar shooting percentage, with Trinity shooting 29 percent (14-of-48) and Amherst scoring 30 percent (18-of-59), Amherst's aggressiveness proved to be an asset, taking 11 more shots than Trinity.

* Valdez scored 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor and recorded a team-leading nine rebounds.