South Hadley, Mass. - February 18, 2015 - For the first time since the 2005-06 season, the Springfield College women's basketball program clinched the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) regular-season title with a 47-39 victory over Mount Holyoke on Wednesday evening.

With the victory, the Pride clinched the top seed in the upcoming NEWMAC Tournament, finishing the regular season with an overall record of 19-6 and a 14-2 mark in conference play. The Lyons fall to 6-18 overall with a 3-12 record in NEWMAC action.

For Springfield, senior forward Jaimie Bickelhaupt (Brookfield, Conn.) registered her 15th double-double of the season, finishing with 15 points and a game-high 16 rebounds. Junior guard Heather Lewis (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) added 10 points with three boards and two assists, while Dina Pitsas (Milford, N.H.) notched four boards and two assists to go along with her eight points. Sophomore guard Danielle Racette (North Adams, Mass.) had a game-best five steals, all of which came in the second stanza.

Trailing 22-14 at the half, Springfield quickly erased its deficit after Bickelhaupt and senior guard Andrea Moschetta (Harrison, N.Y.) scored back-to-back baskets to cut the its deficit to six with 16:06 on the clock.

Kate Karraker (Morgantown, W.V.) converted her sixth trey of the contest to the Lyons up, 27-18, before Springfield rebounded once again, going on a 7-0 run to make it a 29-27 game on a layup from Pitsas.

A jumper from Lewis evened the game at 31 apiece with 9:15 left and Bickelhaupt would later give Springfield the lead with back-to-back layups. Pitsas, who scored all eight of her points in the second half, would nail consecutive layups of her own to push the visitors' edge to seven with just 4:08 left.

Karraker sank another layup at the 2:41 mark to pull Mount Holyoke to within 41-38, but Springfield proved to be too much at the end, holding the hosts to just one point over the final 2:33 of the contest to seal the victory and the conference regular-season title.

Springfield will now advance to host the NEWMAC Championship Tournament from Feb. 28-March 1.