CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's basketball team was defeated by host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, 69-43, today at Roberts Pavillion in Claremont, Calif.
The Lyons dip to 3-7 on the season, while the Athenas improve to 5-5.
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps took advantage of 27 Wheaton turnovers, out-scoring its guests, 28-11 in points off turnovers. CMS owned a 39.7% (23-58) shooting percentage, but held the Lyons to just 32.1% (17-53), including 3-17 (17.6%) from three-point range.
Junior forward Nasha Arnold (North Reading, Mass.) came off the bench to net 10 points and added eight rebounds for Wheaton, while senior guard Abby Fernandes (Assonet, Mass.) chipped in with nine points on 4-8 from the floor to go with five boards, two assists and a blocked shot.
Junior forward Katie Resendiz (Andover, Mass.) led all scorers with 16 points to go with seven rebounds, two assists and a steal. First year Amanda Kerner (Danville, Calif.) came off the bench to contribute with 13 points on 5-9 from the field, including 3-4 from three-point range. She added five rebounds, a pair of steals and an assist and senior reserve guard Grace Florendo (Fremont, Calif.) netted 12 points on an efficient 4-5 from the floor and was a perfect 4-4 from the line in addition to grabbing two rebounds and handing out an assist.
Junior guard Kiki Walters (Fleetwood, Pa.) scored the first points of the game with a layup to give the Lyons a 2-0 lead, but it was their only lead of the day.
The Athenas scored the next seven points, capped by a layup from Resendiz, to take a 7-2 margin at the 6:18 mark of the opening quarter. Wheaton responded with five unanswered points, including a jumper from Fernandes to pull the visitors to within 9-7 with 4:46 to go in the quarter. CMS scored the final four points of the period, before neither team was able to score in the final 3:21 of the quarter, to take a 13-7 lead into the second quarter of play.
Arnold later kept the deficit at six points with a jumper for the Lyons to make it 23-17 with 2:10 showing on the second quarter clock. The Athenas began to put some distance between themselves and Wheaton, scoring eight of the next nine points, including four each from Resendiz and Florendo, to give them a 31-18 advantage with 35 ticks left before halftime. Junior forward Regan Keyter (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) knocked down a jumper at the buzzer for the Lyons to pull them within 31-20 at the intermission.
Resendiz extended the home team's lead to 37-24 with a layup at 8:19 of the third quarter, before a three-pointer from junior guard Madeline Duwe (Greenville, S.C.) and a jumper from Arnold, cut the margin to 37-29 for Wheaton with 7:07 remaining in the period.
CMS effectively put the game out of reach with a 15-1 outburst, where they were 4-6 from the field and 6-8 from the line, including a pair of free throws from Kerner, to inflate its cushion to 52-30 with 53 seconds to go in the third quarter. Arnold canned a jump shot for the Lyons to end the scoring barrage, but Kerner countered with a triple just nine ticks before the end of the quarter to give the Athenas a 55-32 lead with one quarter to play.
CMS scored seven of the first nine points of the fourth quarter, including a Kerner trifecta to give the Athenas a 62-34 lead with 7:52 remaining in the contest. Keyter scored the next four points for Wheaton to make it 62-38 at the 6:43 mark, but it was as close as it would get for the rest of the game. CMS scored six of the next seven points to take its largest lead of the day at 68-39 with 3:02 to play.
The Lyons remain on the West Coast and will take on Pomona-Pitzer tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. EST in Claremont, Calif, while the Athenas host University of Chicago on January 3 at 5:00 p.m. EST.
