SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's basketball team was defeated by host No. 13 Springfield College, 79-72, this evening in a New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference game at Anthony S. Caprio Alumni Healthful Living Center on the campus of Western New England University in Springfield, Mass. The Lyons fall to 3-5 overall and 0-1 following their first NEWMAC contest, while the Pride improve to a perfect 14-0 and 1-0 in league play. 

Springfield outscored Wheaton by just four, three and three points in the first three quarters of play, before the Lyons scored three points more than their host in the final quarter of play. The Pride shot 55.4% (31-56) with most of their points coming in the post as evidenced by a 50-24 advantage in points in the paint against Wheaton. Springfield controlled the boards, owning a 39-27 margin. The Lyons' hot long-distance shooting kept them in the game, hitting 10 of 23 shots (43.5%) from beyond the three-point arc.

First year guard Sydney Ropes (Duxbury, Mass.) came off the bench to score a career-high 15 points on 6-8 shooting, including 3-4 from three-point range for Wheaton. She also added two assists and a rebound in 18 minutes of action. First year guard Riley Sprague (Jamestown, R.I.) was 5-7 from the field to fuel a 14-point effort in addition to three rebounds, three assists and a steal, while first year guard Greta Minos (West Roxbury, Mass.) chipped in with 11 points, seven rebounds, three assists and four steals. First year guard Abby Fernandes (Assonet, Mass.) contributed with 11 points, rebounds rebounds and four assists. 

Sam Hourihan (Bridgewater, Mass.) led all scorers with 24 points and grabbed nine boards. Angela Czeremcha (West Springfield, Mass.) put together a double-double off the bench with 14 points and 11 rebounds, while Sidney Wentland (Elk River, Minn.) pitched in 15 points for the Pride in the win. 

The Lyons opened the contest with an 8-2 lead with 8:46 on the clock thanks to three pointers from Minos and Sprague on back-to-back possessions. Springfield tied the game at 8-8 with 5:51 left as Hourihan canned another jumper for the Pride. At 4:00, Wheaton went up 17-13 as Ropes knocked in a three off the skip pass from Minos giving the Lyons a four point edge. Grace Dzindolet (Holliston, Mass.) got a deflection, which turned into a fast break layup on the other for the senior guard and knotted the game at 17-all. Springfield seized the lead for good at the 1:53 mark of the first as Wentland scored inside to make it 19-17. Wentland facilitated a bucket to a cutting Czerechma to allow Springfield to go up 21-17 and cap an 8-0 run with 1:21 to play in the opening frame. The Lyons closed the quarter with an inside move by Ropes making the score 23-19. 

Springfield expanded its lead to 32-23 after a pair of free throws from Hourihan at the 7:18 mark, then a three pointer from out front from the junior forward made it a nine-point game with 6:43 to go. The Pride were able to grow their lead to double digits as Jaelen Daubon (Hyde Park, N.Y.) drove baseline and dropped off a pass to Wentland for the easy two with 28 seconds remaining. Wheaton fought for two baskets in the final 10 seconds to cut into the Pride lead and make the halftime score 44-37. 

With 6:54 to play in the third quarter, senior forward Sadie Shore (Portsmouth, N.H.) made one-of-two from the line for the Lyons to cut the Pride's lead to 46-44. Springfield was able to push their lead back to 58-49 as Czerechma absorbed the contact and made a pair from the free throw line with 3:28 to go in the third, meanwhile, a pair of layups from Rachel Vinton (Rutland, Mass.) gave the Pride a 63-53 lead going into the fourth. 

The Pride saw its double digit lead get cut to 69-65 with 4:40 to go as Shore made a layup out of a Wheaton timeout. Springfield was able to gain separation from the Lyons late as Czerechma continued to draw contact and knock in free throws for the Pride. The first-year forward was 4-of-5 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter. With 18 seconds left, Hourihan grabbed an offensive rebound off the only free throw miss from Czerechma in the quarter to seal the victory for the Pride.

The Lyons return to action on Wednesday, January 19 when they host NEWMAC foe Emerson College at 6:00 p.m. on Youth Night at Emerson Gymnasium, while Springfield heads to Middlebury, Vt. to take on Middlebury College on January 18 at 4:30 p.m.