POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. (December 6, 2014) – Junior Kaitlyn Astel scored a career high 20 points Saturday to lead the Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team to a 72-55 win over Vassar College.
 
The win was Stevens' (5-1) fifth in a row while the loss snapped a four game win streak for Vassar (4-3).
 
Astel also led the Ducks with seven rebounds while junior Miranda Ripken chipped in with 12 points and three boards. Sophomores Brittany Washington and Erica Guketlov each scored eight points.  
 
The Ducks outrebounded Vassar 41-40 and shot a season high 46.6 percent from the field.  
 
Stevens opened a 7-6 lead over the first four minutes before a 17-4 run over the next nine minutes gave them a double digit advantage. Ripken sparked the run with layups on back-to-back possessions, followed by jumpers from Astel with 13 and 11 minutes remaining.
 
The Ducks continued to ride their momentum and after a pair of free throws from Ripken brought the lead to 26-14, junior Dylan Krause and Guketlov connected on a three and jumper respectively to give Stevens a 17 point lead with just under five minutes to go.
 
Vassar was able to answer with a 7-2 run over the next 80 seconds, but a layup from freshman Sydney Darby in the closing seconds insured a 12 point Stevens lead going into the break.
 
Stevens maintained a comfortable lead to start the second half thanks to eight points over the first eight minutes from Astel. Layups from Washington with seven and six and half minutes remaining brought the lead to 19 before a pair of free throws from Petuskey made it 65-44.
 
A quiet 6-2 run from Vassar took the deficit to 16 with three minutes left, but that's as close at the Brewers would get the rest of the afternoon.
 
The win concludes the 2014 portion of Stevens' schedule as they'll take a break from action before returning on Jan. 2 for the Empire 8 Conference opener against Alfred University in Hoboken.
 
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