NORTON, Mass. — The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's basketball team was unable to quell a second-half comeback in a 78-56 loss to visiting Brandeis University this evening at Emerson Gymnasium on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons slip to 3-9, on the season, while the Judges improve to 10-1.
Brandeis matched its season-low for points in a quarter with seven in the second period, while shooting just 25% (3-12), before catching fire and erupting for a season-high 29 points in the third quarter behind a 66.7% (12-18) shooting effort to catapult the Judges to victory. Brandeis shot 47% (31-66) for the game, while holding Wheaton to 42.3% (22-52) from the floor. The Judges owned a 40-30 rebounding margin and took advantage of 20 Lyon turnovers for a 22-8 scoring differential in points off miscues.
Junior guard Mary Claire McClintock (Essex Junction, Vt.) led Wheaton with a season-high 18 points on 6-10 shooting, including a perfect 5-5 from three-point range and added five assists and three steals. Junior forward Cheyenne Colbert (Brookline, N.H.) scored 14 points and pulled down two rebounds and first year forward Katelyn Cadmus (Pawacatuck, Conn.) chipped in with a career-high 11 points on 5-5 from the field to go with three rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Senior guard Abby Kennedy (Half Moon Bay, Calif.) sparked a 52-point second half with 17 of her game-high 24 points in the stanza. She added five rebounds, an assist, a steal and a blocked shot for Brandeis, while senior forward Katherine Vaughan (Bedford, Mass.) contributed with eight points, seven boards, a pair of blocked shots and an assist. Junior guard Sofia Berisha (Old Tappan, N.J.) came off the bench to net eight points, grab four rebounds and come up with a steal in 24 minutes of action.
The Lyons led for the first 22:54 of the game and did not trail in the first or second quarters of play.
Wheaton was red hot to open the contest, making 8-13 field goal attempts for a 61.5% clip in the opening quarter. Colbert netted nine points to lead an 11-3 burst to open the game for Wheaton, before the Judges ripped off six straight points to close within 11-9 at the six-minute mark of the quarter. A 7-2 stretch, capped by a McClintock three-ball gave the Lyons an 18-11 advantage with 3:45 showing on the first quarter clock. Brandeis battled back with eight of the period's final 10 points, including a layup from senior forward Maya Williams (Redondo Beach, Calif.) to cut the difference to a point at 20-19 at the close of the quarter.
Kennedy later converted a layup to keep it a one-point affair at 22-21, just 57 seconds into the second quarter. McClintock followed with a triple and senior forward Regan Keyter (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) made a layup to bump Wheaton's margin to 27-21 with 4:51 to play in the period. The Judges countered with the next four points to make it 27-25, but the Lyons closed out the half with five of the final six points, including another three from McClintock and a layup from first year forward Darlene Tashobya (Kampala, Uganda) to give Wheaton a 32-26 halftime lead.
Colbert converted a layup to open the third quarter and give the Lyons a 34-26 advantage, but Brandeis put together an 11-2 stretch, backed by eight points from Kennedy and punctuated by a three-pointer from junior forward Claire Candela (Maynard, Mass.) to give the Judges their first lead at 37-36 with 7:06 left in the quarter. McClintock buried a triple to give the home team a 39-37 lead with 6:37 showing in the third quarter, before the Judges put together a blistering 16-1 run, including 12 straight points capped by a layup from senior forward Brooke Reed (Chantilly, Va.) to give the visitors a 53-40 cushion with 66 seconds left in the quarter. McClintock drilled her fifth trifecta of the night to stop the outburst and cut the deficit to 53-43 for Wheaton with 48 ticks left on the third quarter clock. Berisha closed out the period with a steal and a jumper to give Brandeis a 55-43 margin heading into the final quarter of play.
Senior guard Kennis Jasperson (Sacramento, Calif.) knocked down a jumper from the right side to keep the Lyons within 62-49 at the 7:16 mark of the fourth quarter, but the Judges went on a 13-4 run, capped by a pair of free throws from Kennedy to give the Judges their largest lead of the evening at 75-53 with 2:36 remaining in the contest. Brandeis maintained the margin of victory until the final buzzer.
Wheaton travels to Dorchester, Mass. on Saturday, January 10 to take on University of Massachusetts Boston at 12:00 p.m., while Brandeis returns to action on the same day when it hosts No. 1 New York University to open the University Athletic Association slate at 3:00 p.m.
