The Middlebury women's basketball team (9-7, 3-1) earned its second NESCAC victory in as many days with a 70-61 triumph at Hamilton (8-8, 3-3) on Sunday. The Panthers hit the road this weekend for back-to-back conference games in Connecticut, starting with Trinity at 7:00 p.m. on Friday night. 
 
Middlebury came out strong, going on a 13-3 run to start the game, capped on a three-pointer from Bethany Lucey at the 5:23 mark. The Continentals responded with a 7-0 burst, making it 13-10 with 1:02 to go in the quarter. The run was sparked by a layup and a trey from Kelcie Zarle. The Panthers closed out the opening stanza with back-to-back three pointers from Reagan McDonald and Gianna Palli to increase the lead to 19-10. 
 
Hamilton rattled off 10 unanswered points to start the second frame, cutting the deficit to one (20-19) with 7:23 showing on the clock. Knotted at 24 points apiece, Middlebury went on a modest 8-4 run to head into intermission with a 32-28 edge. 
 
The third quarter went back-and-forth in the early stages, before back-to-back treys from McDonald and Lucey gave the Panthers a 45-37 lead with 4:04 left in the stanza. Middlebury increased its lead to double digits when Alexa Mustafaj converted a pair of charity tosses with 38 ticks left on the clock, before Hamilton's Zarle tallied a pair of jumpers to close the gap to six (52-46). 
 
In the final frame, the Panthers took their biggest lead of the game (66-54) when McDonald sank a shot from beyond the arc with 4:02 remaining. The Continentals went on a 7-2 run capped by a three pointer from Zarle with just 11 ticks left on the clock to cut the difference to seven (68-61). Mustafaj converted a pair of free throws in the final seconds to secure the 70-61 victory for Middlebury. 
 
Lucey recorded her second double-double of the weekend, grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds and tallying 16 points. Mustafaj paced the team with 24 points, going 11-11 at the charity stripe. McDonald had 19 points for the Panthers, while Palli chipped in with 10 points and nine rebounds. 
 
Zarle led all players with 26 points, while Emily Hall had 11 points and five rebounds. Claire Sehring chipped in with nine points, while Emma Sehring pulled down a team-high nine boards.