The Middlebury women's basketball team (5-3) defeated Cabrini University 61-54 on the second day of the Williams Shooting Touch Classic. Middlebury will return to action when it travels to Plattsburgh State on Wednesday for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff, while the Cavaliers (2-5) host Ursinus College on the same day at 7:00 p.m.
 
The Panthers jumped out to an 18-8 lead in the first quarter, paced by nine points from Alexa Mustafaj and never looked back en route to the non-conference victory.
 
Bethany Lucey forced a turnover and hit a three-pointer with 3:22 left in the second stanza to give Middlebury its biggest lead of the half (31-17). Cabrini cut the deficit to 10 (35-25) with a pair of charity tosses from Miranda Liebtag with just 28 seconds remaining before the break. 
 
The Cavaliers continued to chip away, whittling the lead down to seven with 7:46 left in the third quarter after a layup from Liebtag. The Panthers went on a 7-0 run over the next 1:05 with Mustafaj stealing the ball and knocking down a free throw to extend the lead back up to 14 again (44-30). Middlebury maintained a double-digit advantage for the remainder of the quarter, heading into the final frame with a 51-38 lead. 
 
Cabrini opened the fourth stanza with a 6-0 burst, cutting the deficit to seven (51-44) with just over five minutes remaining. That was as close as the Cavaliers would get as the Panthers eased to the 61-54 victory. 
 
Mustafaj led all scorers with 20 points on 7-for-14 shooting from the floor, while grabbing seven rebounds. Reagan McDonald joined Mustafaj in double figures with 11 points. Augusta Dixon just missed a double-double, tallying nine points and grabbing nine boards off the bench. Claire Miller pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds and scored seven points, while Bethany Lucey had a game-high four steals and chipped in with seven points. 
 
Liebtag and Brielle Fitzpatrick each had 13 points for Cabrini, while Liebtag had a team-high eight boards. 
 
Middlebury controlled the glass with 46 rebounds to Cabrini's 36 and had 14 second-chance points to Cabrini's four.