NORTON, Mass. — The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's basketball team fell to visiting Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 73-47, this evening in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference play at Emerson Gymnasium on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons drop to 5-17 overall and 1-7 in league play, while the Engineers win their sixth straight and improve to 12-10 and 6-2.
The Engineers shot 44.3% (27-61) from the floor and were busy at the free throw line, connecting on 16 of 22 tries. MIT took advantage of 23 Wheaton turnovers, outscoring the home team, 22-3, in points off turnovers. The Lyons were held to 30.5% (18-59) shooting, including 4-28 (14.3%) from three-point range.
Wheaton was led by first year forward Darlene Tashobya (Kampala, Uganda) with 11 points, eight rebounds, an assist and a steal. Junior forward Cheyenne Colbert (Brookline, N.H.) was shy of a double-double with nine points and nine boards to go with a pair of assists and first year guard Sydney MacCalla (Middletown, N.Y.) chipped in with eight points, a rebound and a steal.
First year guard Ruth Lanouette (Devon, Pa.) netted 20 points to lead the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lanouette added six rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals to her night for the Engineers. First year forward Riley O'Sullivan (Glen Ridge, N.J.) netted 17 points, grabbed four rebounds, handed out an assist, came up with a steal and blocked a shot, while graduate student guard Olivia Joseph (Newtown, Pa.) contributed with 11 points, four rebounds and a pair of blocks.
Junior guard Mary McClintock (Essex Junction, Vt.) scored a layup just 53 seconds into the opening quarter to give the Lyons their only lead of the night at 2-0. MIT put together a 17-5 stretch, paced by five points each from Joseph and Lanouette, to give the Engineers a 17-7 advantage with 2:14 left in the first period. Wheaton first year forward Katelyn Cadmus (Pawcatuck, Conn.) traded layups with Lanouette to keep it a 10-point difference (19-9) at the end of the quarter.
The visitors opened the second quarter with a 14-2 run, fueled by seven points from O'Sullivan, to increase their cushion to 34-11 with 4:27 showing in the second quarter. The Lyons roared back with a 15-4 burst, led by five points from MacCalla, to close out the quarter and pull within 38-26 at the intermission.
Tashobya made a layup with 4:41 remaining in the third quarter to keep the deficit at a dozen for Wheaton at 45-33 and later converted a pair of free throws to bring the Lyons to within 47-35 at the 3:58 mark of the period. MIT finished the quarter on an 11-4 stretch, receiving five points from Lanouette and four from senior forward Brianna Lebrun (Hartford, Conn.) to inflate its lead to 58-39 with one quarter to play.
The Engineers carried their momentum into the fourth quarter with an 8-3 blitz, paced by four points from Lebrun, to increase their advantage to 66-42 with 5:29 remaining in the contest. MacCalla knocked down a pair of free throws to cut the margin to 66-46 for Wheaton, before MIT ripped off seven unanswered points, capped by a layup from junior guard Mariam Abdelbarr (Durham, N.C.) to give the visitors their largest lead of the night at 73-46 with 1:53 left in the game.
The Lyons return to the court on Saturday, February 14 when they host Salve Regina University in conference action at Emerson Gymnasium for a 1:00 p.m. tip-off, while the Engineers play on the same day and time when they travel to New London, Conn. to take on league foe United States Coast Guard Academy.
