Late Rally Leads Wellesley Past RIC, 73-62
WELLESLEY, Mass. – With the support of a raucous home court crowd, Wellesley College staged a dramatic comeback to defeat Rhode Island College 73-62 this evening in Dorothy Towne Field House. After facing a 19-point deficit midway through the second half, the Blue outscored the Anchorwomen 29-2 in the final eight minutes of the game to grab the come-from-behind victory on Fall Sport Recognition Night. The win lifts the Blue to 5-2 on the season. RIC drops to 4-5.
The visiting Anchorwomen jumped out to an early first-half lead, using a hot hand from the floor to take a 10-4 advantage. Back-to-back three-pointers from Cassi Malec (Gloucester, R.I.) and Tyla Martin (Cumberland, R.I.) stretched the lead to 16-6, forcing a Wellesley timeout. But the Anchorwomen continued to roll, using three treys from Stephanie Coro (North Providence, R.I.) to stretch the lead to 31-11 with 7:20 remaining in the half.
The Blue chipped away in the closing minutes of the period, with a freethrow from Jessica Duff (Milton, Abingdon, UK) and a short jumper from Nicole Labbee (Florence, Mass.). A trey from Robyn Burleson (Seattle, Wash.), cut the lead further, to 33-19. The two squads traded baskets in the closing minute, as the Anchorwomen took a 39-24 lead into the lockerroom.
The Blue opened the second half quickly, using an 8-4 run to cut the lead to 43-32 at the 15:30 mark. The Anchorwomen answered with a run of their own, stretching their advantage back to 55-36 with just over 12:30 remaining.
From that point on, the game belonged to the Blue. Wellesley trimmed the lead to 60-50 on a layup from Burleson with 6:30 left in the game. A three-pointer from Courtney Richter (Silver Springs, Md.) at the 5:05 mark brought the Blue to within seven, and freethrows from Duff and Richter cut the lead to 62-58.
With 4:00 remaining Duff hit a layup to bring the Blue to within two. After yet another defensive stop, a three-pointer from Burleson gave Wellesley its first lead of the game with 2:45 left on the clock. Back-to-back layups from Labbee and Duff stretched the Blue's lead to five, and a Duff putback gave the Blue a 70-62 lead with :45 remaining. Julia Thomas (Concord, Calif.) sank a freethrow to push the lead to nine, and Duff capped off the comeback with a steal and layup to give the Blue the win.
For RIC, Coro led the Anchorwomen with 14 points, while Tyla Martin (Cumberland, R.I.) tallied 13. Coro, Martin, and Alice Mullen (Saundertstown, R.I.) added two steals each, while Ashley Abrahamson (Raynham, Mass.) pulled down six rebounds.
Duff finished with a game-high 17 points for the Blue while also pulling down 13 boards. Labbee had a stellar game, scoring a career-high 16 points with four assists and two steals. Burleson also had a career-high in points with 12, while Richter recorded nine. Rounding out the offense for Wellesley, Thomas scored eight points while also leading all players with 18 rebounds.
RIC will close out the 2008 portion of the season hosting Keene State on Saturday in a 1:00pm clash. Wellesley is idle until Wednesday, January 7th, when the Blue open their conference schedule at Springfield at 7:00pm.