SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Wheaton College women's basketball team returned to the court on Sunday afternoon for the start of New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) competition at Springfield. The Pride edged out the visiting Lyons 47-45 at Blake Arena.

With the loss the Lyons fall to 3-2 on the season and 0-1 in conference play. The Pride improve to 3-2 as well and 1-0 in the NEWMAC.

Kiley Shoemaker paced the way for the Lyons, knocking down 14 points to go with 16 rebounds. Ruthie Zientek ended the contest with seven points and five boards, while also collecting two steals.

Heather Lewis led Springfield with 14 points, while Heather King contributed 10. King also pulled down a team-high 10 boards for the Pride, while coming up with three steals and a block.

With the first quarter deadlocked at 8-8, Sophie Black and Zientek made back-to-back layups to give the Lyons a 12-8 advantage over their hosts. King pulled the Pride back within a point at the end of the first quarter with a quick jumper.

Springfield opened the second quarter with a 5-0 run to take an 18-14 lead, before cruising ahead to an 11-point advantage with 4:54 left in the first half. Neither side would go on to score over the next three minutes, until Oppie Morris hit the first of her two free-throw attempts. Emily Cuthbertson and Zientek helped chip away at the deficit at the end of the half, making it 27-20 Springfield.  

The Pride started the third quarter hot, taking a 33-26 lead midway through the period. Now trailing by nine points with 3:03 remaining, Wheaton went onto score five unanswered points, which included a pair of Shoemaker free-throws, to make it 39-35 heading into the fourth quarter.

With a little under three minutes remaining in the game, the Pride increased its lead to 47-41. The Lyons refused to go down without a fight, chipping away at the Pride lead, eventually pulling within two points on back-to-back Zientek free-throws.

Now with just 30 seconds on the clock, the Lyons played strong defense, after Lexi Windwer missed a three-point and layup attempt. Following Shoemakers final rebound of the contest, the Lyons called a timeout to put together one final play. Like they did earlier in the season, the Lyons tried to put together another game-winning three-point attempt, but this time had it fall short as time expired.

The Lyons return to Emerson Gymnasium for their next contest, as they host Maine-Augusta on Thursday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m.