WORCESTER, Mass. – The Clark University (Mass.) women's basketball team scored the final five points of the game to pull out a 58-56 non-conference victory over visiting Wheaton College (Mass.) this evening at Kneller Athletic Center in Worcester, Mass. 

The Lyons fall to 10-4 on the season, while the Cougars improve to 7-6.

Clark held Wheaton to just 33.3% (22-66) shooting from the field, but the visitors owned a 45-36 advantage on the boards. The Cougars trailed for most of the game with their largest lead being their margin of victory at two points.

First year guard Kiki Walters (Fleetwood, Pa.) led Wheaton with 12 points, four steals and three assists to go with eight rebounds, while sophomore guard Abby Fernandes (Assonet, Mass.) netted 12 points, grabbed three rebounds, handed out three assists, came up with three steals and blocked a shot. First year forward Nasha Arnold (North Reading, Mass.) ripped down a career-high 15 rebounds and added two points and a blocked shot. First year guard Kennis Jasperson (Sacramento, Calif.) chipped in with nine points, a rebound, an assist and a steal in 18 minutes off the bench.

Senior forward Sarah Zambrano (San Francisco, Calif.) led all scorers with 16 points, including the last five of the game, in addition to seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and a pair of blocks for Clark. Junior forward Alaina Schatzabel (Kennebunk, Maine) scored 13 points, pulled down eight boards, came up with three steals and dished out an assist and senior guard Julianne Liebow (Townshend, Vt.) contributed with 10 points, three assists, three steals and a rebound.

Sophomore forward Maddie Mueller (Carver, Mass.) made a pair of free throws and sophomore guard Greta Minos (Boston, Mass.) converted a layup to give the Lyons a 56-53 lead with 3:34 left to play in the game. 

Neither team scored for nearly three minutes before Zambrano made a layup with 42 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to pull the Cougars to within 56-55. Clark got the ball back and Zambrano made another layup and got fouled before sinking the free throw to give the home team a two-point lead with 13.7 seconds to go. 

Wheaton was unable to score on a driving layup following a timeout, but fouled Clark to get the desired result of a pair of missed free throws with 5.4 seconds to play. The Lyons turned the ball over off the second miss in their own zone and the Cougars escaped with the win.

Wheaton took an early 13-3 lead, following a 9-0 run midway through the first quarter, paced by five points from Walters. The Lyons increased their advantage to 21-10 with 2:26 showing on the first quarter clock, but Clark closed the period with seven unanswered points, including five from Liebow, to cut the deficit to 21-17 at the quarter's end.

Sophomore guard Sydney Ropes (Duxbury, Mass.) knocked down a three-pointer at the 5:07 mark and Jasperson later hit a three of her own to give Wheaton a 34-25 cushion with 2:18 remaining in the opening half. The Cougars seized the momentum to close the quarter as they had in the first session, scoring the final six points to reduce the visitors' margin to 34-31 at the intermission.

Clark continued its momentum with the first four points of the third quarter on a pair of layups from Schatzabel to take a 35-34 edge with 8:01 left in the period. The teams traded the lead nine times over the next six minutes until Walters gave the Lyons a 47-44 lead with a layup at the 2:10 mark of the quarter.

Liebow and Walters matched each other with three-pointers as the teams went back and forth with four more lead changes before Mueller and Minos scored the final four points for Wheaton.

The Lyons return to action on Monday, January 9 when they travel to nearby Bridgewater, Mass. to take on Bridgewater State University for a 6:00 p.m. tip-off, while the Cougars host New England College on January 10 at 4:00 p.m.