WATERVILLE, Maine – Senior captains Dani Valdez and Lauren Pelosi each scored 17 points to lead the Amherst College women's basketball team to a 59-47 win at Colby College on Saturday afternoon at the Alfond Athletics and Recreation Center.

The Mammoths, ranked 11th in the nation in the D3hoops.com poll and tied for 10th in the WBCA Coaches Poll, won their fifth straight game to improve to 15-2 overall and 4-2 in NESCAC play. The Mules fell to 9-8 overall and 1-7 in conference with their seventh straight loss.

The Mammoths are back in action tomorrow (Sunday, Feb. 6), visiting Bowdoin at 1 p.m.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

* The Mammoths opened the game with a 4-0 lead after baskets from Valdez and senior captain Courtney Resch but Colby responded with a 10-0 run to take a lead it would hold for the rest of the first half.

* Colby built the lead to nine in the second quarter before the Mammoths mounted their comeback effort. Amherst closed the first half on a 10-3 run with first-year Kori Barach hitting the last basket of the first half to trim the Colby lead to 21-19 at halftime.

* The Mammoths took the lead in the third quarter when senior captain Gabrielle Zaffiro got a steal and hit a three to put Amherst up, 27-25. The teams traded baskets and Colby took the lead on a three-point play by Caroline Smith but the Mammoths scored six unanswered points after that to take a lead they never relinquished as the Mammoths shot 8-of-14 from the field in the third quarter.

* Colby cut the Amherst lead to three several times in a fourth quarter that was tightly contested until the final minute when the Mammoths turned a six-point lead into a 12-point final margin by hitting free throws down the stretch.

BY THE NUMBERS

* The Mammoths were a perfect 11-of-11 from the free throw line, all coming in the second half, including an 8-of-8 performance in the fourth quarter. It's the second game this season that Amherst was perfect from the line after an 8-of-8 performance at Babson on Jan. 25.

* Valdez grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds to go with her 17 points on 7-of-12 field goal shooting for her fifth double-double of the season.

* Pelosi's 17 points were a career high as she shot 5-of-8 from the floor and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc to set a career high in made field goals and match her career best in made three-pointers.

* With both teams taking the same number of field goal attempts, the Mammoths shot 42 percent (22-of-53) from the floor, their third straight game shooting above 40 percent, while Colby shot 32 percent (17-of-53).