South Hadley, Mass. – February 19, 2014 - Jaimie Bickelhaupt’s (Brookfield, Conn.) double-double paced the Springfield College women’s basketball team in a 46-41 road win over conference rival Mount Holyoke on Wednesday.

Bickelhaupt finished the game with 12 points and 12 rebounds, plus four steals and three blocks. With the win, the Pride clinch a spot in the New England Women’s & Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) tournament set to begin next week. Springfield improves to 14-10 overall and 10-9 in conference play.

Emily Gins (Fort Myers, Fla.) had a big game for Springfield finishing with 12 boards and eight points. Lexi Windwer (Milton, Mass.) tallied nine points while Heather Lewis (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) and Danielle Racette (North Adams, Mass.) each added six. Lewis also had five rebounds in the win.

Locked in an 18-18 tie after halftime, the visting Pride broke the game open as Lewis made back-to-back layups and Bickelhaupt dropped in a bucket of her own to make it a 24-18 Springfield lead with 18:11 to play.

A three-pointer from junior Kate Karraker (Morgantown, W.V.) cut the Lyons deficit by four (27-23) at the 16:06 mark. She later dropped in a pair of free throws to make it a 27-25 game.

Mount Holyoke continued to fight to keep it close, but a trey from Windwer pushed the gap back to five (32-27) with 11:41 to play in the game and the Pride continued to roll. Four points from Racette and a jumper from Bickelhaupt opened the lead to 38-27 with just 8:15 to play.

The Lyons began to mount a comeback over the final six minutes as Karraker dropped in a three and junior Amber Legare (Chicopee, Mass.) nailed a pair of shots from the free throw line to make it a 41-34 game.

A pair of Lewis free throws and a layup from Gins opened it to a 45-34 game with 4:02 to play. Legare added two more free throws as well and a five-point stretch from sophomore Genelle Green (Windsor, Conn.) closed it to a four-point game with 20 seconds on the clock, but it wasn’t enough.

For the Lyons, Karraker recorded a game-best 17 points with three assists, while Legare notched her 14th double-double of the season with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Junior Nicole DeMarchena (Miami, Fla.) posted a game-best four blocks.

Mount Holyoke returns to the court on Saturday as it closes out the season at Wellesley at 2pm. Springfield wraps-up its regular season on Saturday as well, traveling to Coast Guard for a 1pm game.