NORTON, Mass. – The Massachusetts Institute of Technology women's basketball team outscored host Wheaton College (Mass.), 24-10, in the third quarter to fuel a 71-43 victory this evening in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference action at Emerson Gymnasium on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons slip to 10-14 overall and 2-8 in league play, while the Engineers have won four of their last five to improve to 17-7 and 8-2.
MIT dominated the offensive glass with 15 rebounds and outscored Wheaton, 15-2, in second chance points. The Engineers finished the game with a 46-39 rebounding advantage and committed just nine turnovers, while the host Lyons were credited with 20 miscues. MIT held a 20-11 advantage in points off turnovers. Both teams struggled from the field with the Engineers making just 37.3% (25-67) of their attempts, but were outstanding from three-point range with a 47.1% (8-17) clip. Wheaton shot just 30.4% (17-56) from the floor.
Junior guard Abby Fernandes (Assonet, Mass.) led all scorers with a game-high 17 points for the Lyons on 7-14 from the field and added three rebounds, an assist, a steal and a career-high three blocked shots. Sophomore forward Regan Keyter (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) chipped in with eight points and pulled down four rebounds, while blocking three shots.
Junior forward Kamsi Nwogu (Algonquin, Ill.) finished a rebound short of a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds to go with four assists, a steal and a block to lead MIT. Junior guard Angie Choi (Cypress, Calif.) netted 12 points on 5-9 shooting and added two rebounds and a pair of assists, while graduate student guard Christina Antonakakis (Holmdel, N.J.) contributed with 11 points, including a trio of three-pointers, four rebounds, a steal and a game-high five assists.
Wheaton took its only lead of the night when Keyter scored the first points of the game on a layup 22 seconds into the game. The Engineers scored the next seven points, capped by a three-pointer from Antonakakis to give the visitors a 7-2 margin with 6:16 left in the opening quarter.
Fernandes countered with a jumper and a layup to cut the deficit to 7-6 at the 5:29 mark, but it was the closest the Lyons would get for the rest of the contest.
First year forward Cheyenne Colbert (Brookline, N.H.) converted a nifty feed from sophomore guard Kennis Jasperson (Sacramento, Calif.) to keep the home team within a bucket at 10-8 with 3:10 remaining in the opening period. MIT closed out the quarter with the last six points, including four from junior forward Olivia Joseph (Newtown Square, Pa.), to take a 14-8 lead.
Senior guard Grace Harrington (Seattle, Wash.) canned a trifecta to open the second quarter scoring for the Engineers and boost their cushion to 17-8, before a 5-0 run, capped by a three-point play from Fernandes, pulled Wheaton within 17-13 with 7:13 showing on the second quarter clock.
Keyter later made a layup to keep the Lyons close at 25-21 with 3:56 to go in the quarter, but MIT ripped off eight straight points to expand its advantage to 33-21 with 2:19 left in the first half and maintained its lead with a 35-24 halftime margin.
Fernandes converted a fast break layup with 6:06 remaining in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 43-31 for Wheaton, before the Engineers held the Lyons to just three points for the remainder of the quarter. MIT scored 16 points in the final six minutes of the period, including five from Choi and four from Joseph, to take a commanding 59-34 advantage into the final quarter of play.
Colbert sank a floating jumper in the paint for the Lyons to make it 59-36, before the Engineers scored the next five points to take a 64-36 margin with 7:51 left in the game. MIT maintained its advantage throughout the quarter and took its largest lead of the night at 70-41 following a three-pointer from first year guard Rachael Zacks (Glencoe, Ill.) at the 2:42 mark of the quarter.
Wheaton closes out its season on the road, taking on Worcester Polytechnic Institute on Saturday, February 17 at 1:00 p.m. in Worcester, Mass., while the Engineers wrap the regular season on the same day and time when they travel to Newport, R.I. to take on Salve Regina University.
