NORTON, Mass. – First year guard Aniyah Boston (Linden, N.J.) netted a career-high 14 points and the Wheaton College (Mass.) women's basketball team rode an overwhelming first quarter to victory in a 64-45 decision over visiting Mount Holyoke College this evening in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference play at Emerson Gymnasium on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons improve to 9-7 overall and 1-1 in league play, while MHC falls to 2-14 and 0-2.
Wheaton held its guests to just 15.4% (2-13) in the opening quarter, while shooting 55.6% (10-18) in the frame to open a 25-4 advantage after one quarter of play. The home Lyons went cold in the next two quarters, combining to hit just 7-34 shots for a 20.5% mark, while Mount Holyoke matched points with Wheaton (10-10) in the second quarter and outscored the home team, 17-11, in the third period. The Lyons found their shooting stroke in the fourth quarter, knocking down 63.6% (7-11) of their shots to close out the game for the victory.
Boston was 5-10 from the floor for Wheaton, including 3-7 from three-point range and added four rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals. Junior guard Abby Fernandes (Assonet, Mass.) netted 13 points, grabbed three boards, handed out three assists and came up with four steals. Sophomore forward Regan Keyter (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) contributed with 10 points, five rebounds, a steal and four blocks in 20 minutes, while sophomore forward Nasha Arnold (North Reading, Mass.) pulled down a game-high nine rebounds to go with eight points.
First year guard Hannah Goen (New London, N.H.) led MHC with 10 points and added two rebounds and a steal and first year center Emma Goff (Cohasset, Mass.) chipped in with nine points, seven boards and a pair of steals. Senior guard Teal Howle (Florence, S.C.) dished for a game-high five assists, scored eight points, hauled in six rebounds and came up with a steal.
The Lyons scored the first 13 points of the game, including a pair of three-pointers from Keyter, before Goff scored Mount Holyoke's first points of the opening quarter with a layup with 4:41 to play in the period. Wheaton's offense was just paused as it ripped off 12 unanswered points, fueled by eight from Boston to give the home team a commanding 25-2 cushion with 76 seconds left in the quarter. Howle scored on a layup to give the visiting Lyons the final two points of the quarter to make it 25-4.
The opening run gave the home Lyons enough breathing room to work with for the remainder of the contest, but Mount Holyoke made it interesting for the next 23 minutes of play.
Sophomore guard Madeline Duwe (Greenville, S.C.) converted a floating jumper to give Wheaton its largest lead of the night at 32-8 with 3:35 to play in the opening half. Junior forward Mireille Tona (Portland, Maine) maintained the double-dozen margin for the Lyons with a pair of free throws at the 2:07 mark of the quarter to make it 34-10.
Junior guard Katie Rha (Douglastown, N.Y.) sank a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to 35-14 for MHC before the end of the half.
Boston knocked down a jumper from outside the paint to give Wheaton a 41-18 advantage with 3:28 to go in the third quarter, but Mount Holyoke cut into the margin with a 13-4 run, paced by four points from junior guard Marley Berano (Lady Lake, Fla.), to pull the visitors to within 45-31 with 35 ticks left in the quarter. First year forward Cheyenne Colbert (Brookline, N.H.) hit the front end of two free throws to give the home Lyons a 46-31 lead heading into the final quarter of action.
Mount Holyoke took its momentum into the fourth quarter, scoring eight straight points, capped by a fast break layup from Goen to pull the visiting Lyons to within a manageable 46-39 margin with 7:40 showing on the fourth quarter clock. Wheaton collected itself and put together a 17-4 stretch, fueled by 10 big points from Fernandes to put the game out of reach at 63-43 for the home team at the 1:20 mark of the quarter.
Wheaton returns to the court on Saturday, January 20 when it hosts No. 12/16 Smith College for a NEWMAC contest at 1:00 p.m. in Emerson Gymnasium, while Mount Holyoke hosts Clark University at 1:00 p.m. on the same day.
