NORTON, Mass. — The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's basketball team fell to visiting Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 65-53, this afternoon in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference play at Emerson Gymnasium on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons finish their season at 7-18 overall and 3-8 in league play, while the Engineers improve to 12-13 and 5-6.
WPI earned the seventh seed in the NEWMAC Championship Tournament and will travel to Babson Park, Mass. to play second-seeded Babson College on February 26 at 7:00 p.m.
Wheaton celebrated its senior class in a pre-game ceremony, honoring Sydney Ropes (Duxbury, Mass.), Abby Fernandes (Assonet, Mass.), Greta Minos (Boston, Mass.), Mireille Tona (Portland, Maine) and Riley Sprague (Jamestown, R.I.).
The Engineers dominated the boards by a 41-22 margin, including 15 caroms on the offensive glass and held a 14-7 advantage in second chance points. WPI shot 44.9% (22-49) for the game, including 72.7 (8-11) in the opening quarter to set the tone. Wheaton owned a 35.4% (17-48) field goal mark for the game.
Junior forward Regan Keyter (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) led the Lyons with 16 points on 7-9 shooting to go with four boards and Minos netted 12 points on 4-8 from three-point range, in addition to three rebounds, an assist and a steal. Junior guard Kiki Walters (Fleetwood, Pa.) contributed with 10 points with eight coming at the line in as many attempts to go with six rebounds, three assists and two steals. Tona registered a block during the contest to give her 43 for the season and 59 for her career to place her ninth on the program's all-time single season and career leaderboard.
Graduate student forward Alice Kelly (Wethersfield, Conn.) netted 22 points to lead the Worcester Kelly was 6-12 from the field and 9-12 from the free throw line to go with five rebounds and an assist for the Engineers, while sophomore guard Ava Giansiracusa (Wethersfield, Conn.) came off the bench to score 17 points, grab five rebounds, dish for an assist and come up with a steal in 30 minutes. Sophomore guard Emmy Allyn (Rutland, Mass.) chipped in with 11 points, three rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals.
WPI never trailed in the game and held a 9-7 margin after Keyter knocked down a triple for Wheaton to pull the home team within two with 4:38 showing in the first half.
The Engineers put together a 16-4 run that spanned into the second quarter, fueled by seven points from Allyn, to give them a 25-11 cushion with 8:50 left in the second quarter. The visitors maintained their margin after a second chance layup from sophomore forward Ava Hyams (Kearny, N.J.) kept the lead at 27-13.
The Lyons roared back with a 10-3 stretch, sparked by a pair of trifectas from Minos, to cut the deficit to 30-23 with 4:40 remaining in the period. Sophomore guard Mary McClintock (Essex Junction, Vt.) later converted a layup prior to the end of the half to keep it a seven-point difference at 34-27.
Keyter made a layup at the 6:39 mark of the third quarter to keep the deficit at 36-29 for Wheaton, but it was as close as the home team would get for the balance of the game. WPI enjoyed a 12-5 run, paced by six points from Kelly, to effectively put the game away and give it a 48-34 advantage with 1:52 to play in the quarter. Junior forward Megan Stone (Hanson, Mass.) sank a pair of free throws to maintain the Engineers' lead at 50-36 with 53 ticks left in the quarter and serve as the margin going into the final quarter of play.
Kelly later scored on a putback layup to give WPI its largest lead of the afternoon at 55-40 with 5:04 showing on the fourth quarter clock. The Lyons whittled the deficit to single digits following an 11-5 string, capped by a Minos three-ball, to make it 60-51 with 53 seconds left in the game, but the Engineers cruised to victory.
