Box Score NORTON, MA- Freshman Jeana Trimboli (Norwalk, CT/Trinity
Catholic) scored a Wheaton College season-best 26 points
in leading the Lyons to a 67-48 New England Women's and Men's
Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's basketball victory over
Wellesley College on Wednesday night in Emerson Gymnasium.
Avenging its January loss to the Blue while moving into a
three-way tie for second in the conference standings with one game
to play, Wheaton improved to 15-9 overall and 12-5 in league
play. Wellesley fell to 8-14 and 6-11.
Trimboli's 26 included her shooting 10-of-14 from the field and
6-of-10 beyond the three-point stripe, as her season-high-tying six
threes fell one short of the 16-year-old program record and matched
her own freshman mark. Senior Jenny Champney
(Bedford, MA/Bedford) also had a big night, moving into
sixth place on the school's all-time scoring list with 19 points,
as she now has 1,205. She shot 8-of-12 and grabbed six
rebounds. Classmate Andrea Bailey (Needham,
MA/Needham) handed out 10 assists, pulled down five boards
and had three steals.
For Wellesley, freshman Becca Kimball (Weston,
MA/Weston) finished with 14 points and three steals, while
classmate Malia Maier (Torrance, CA/Palos Verdes
Estates) added 11 points, five rebounds and a pair of
blocks.
Wheaton set the tone early with 13 of the game's first 15
points, as Champney and Trimboli combined for 11 of them.
Wellesley twice brought the game to six points, including trailing
20-14 with less than nine minutes remaining in the opening stanza,
before the Lyons scored seven unanswered over 1:59 to lead 27-14 at
6:55. After the Blue scored the next five points, Wheaton
went on a 12-0 run that bridged halftime. Trimboli's triple
with 2:59 to go made the score 31-19, as she and Champney combined
to score 26 points by that point, going 11-of-16.
The Lyons closed the first half with 10 straight points while
holding Wellesley off the scoreboard for the final 4:17, entering
the locker room with a 37-19 advantage. Champney shot 6-of-9
for 13 points with five rebounds, while Trimboli made 5-of-8 and
also had 13 markers. Wheaton shot 50.0 percent in the half
while holding the Blue to 27.6 percent.
Champney's pair of free throws 18 seconds into the second half
put her over the 1,200-point mark for her career while giving her
team a 39-19 lead. The visitors trimmed the margin to 15 at
53-38 with 12:42 left before Trimboli's three 34 seconds later
triggered an 8-2 run during a minute stretch. Bailey's lay-in
at 11:08 staked Wheaton to a 61-40 advantage, the first of four
21-point leads, as Wellesley got no closer than 19 the rest of the
way.
Wheaton wraps up its regular season on Saturday at league rival
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) at 1:00 p.m.