The Lady Badgers picked up a win on Tuesday night, Nov. 27, over previously unbeaten Vermont Technical College in a non conference game at Carter Gymnasium, improving their quiet record this season to 2-3 while Vermont Tech stays at 6 wins.

The game started off with an early 12-6 lead for Vermont Tech as they jumped on the Badgers with a pair of 3 pointers made by Kelly Vellek. The lead was then wiped away within the next few minutes of the game with a recharged effort on defense from the Badgers and numerous buckets, including the tying and tie breaking scores by JSC’s Mary Richardson. Johnson’s offense surged the last minutes of the half, while Vermont Tech was held scoreless in the last 5. The drought for Vermont Tech was then finished by a 3 pointer with about 20 seconds left in the half by Ama Baker to wrap up the scoring in the first. Badgers had the lead at half 28-25.

The game tightened up as play resumed in the opening minutes of the second half, although never allowing Vermont Tech to surpass them and take the driver’s seat. After an Emily Jones layup to regain the lead for the Badgers, 36-34, perhaps the pivotal moment in the game came when Vermont Tech’s Ama Baker recorded her last foul and was forced to watch the remainder of the game. Three of Vermont Tech’s players had three or more fouls, including two players with four fouls each, only four minutes into the second half. Johnson only had a maximum of two fouls on any player. On her way to the bench, Baker kicked the ball in frustration and Vermont Tech was awarded a technical foul for her actions. Baker finished the game with a double-double, 13 points and 11 rebounds, shooting about 36 percent.

After the ejection of Baker the Badgers never looked back and eventually pushed their lead on Vermont Tech up to 49-38 with a Brittany Moody layup after an assortment of buckets from a plethora of Badgers. The lead was further pushed to 51-38 with only about six minutes left in the game.   Vermont Tech’s only scores during this 17-4 run by JSC came from four free-throws by Vellek.  Vellek finished the game with a team high 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists.

The Badgers kept up their dominance over Vermont Tech for the rest of the game, although VTC would make a push to within four points with 4:18 to go. However, due to back-to-back 3-pointers by Richardson and Brittany Robertson, the Badgers pushed their lead back to double figures and Johnson would earn their victory with a final score of 58-52.

Johnson held the Green Knights to 24% shooting on the night and forced 20 turnovers, including twelve steals. VTC would earn the 48-43 rebounding advantage, grabbing 21 points on offense while doing so. The leading scorer for the Badgers was Brittany Robertson with 17 points. She also had seven rebounds and recorded six steals in her efforts.