Wellesley Basketball Falls to Babson

Babson took an 11-3 advantage in the opening minutes of the game, highlighted by two consecutive jumpers from Kathleen King (Framingham, Mass.). Wellesley answered with a trey from Malia Maier (Torrance, Calif.), but the visitors followed with eight straight points for a 19-6 lead at the 10:40 mark. The Blue cut the lead to seven with a three-pointer from Robyn Burleson (Seattle, Wash) and layups from Becca Kimball (Weston, Mass.) and Judine St. Gerard (Milton, Mass.). But Babson used a late surge, including 10 points from Sarah Collins (Weymouth, Mass.) and solid freethrow shooting from Wurdeman for a 33-22 halftime lead.

Wellesley opened the second half with layups from Ashleigh Sargent (Bedford, Mass.) and Maier to cut the Babson lead to 32-26. The Beavers responded with six of their own, including two of Wurdeman's 12 second-half points, to push the lead back to a dozen at the 17:30 mark. After trading baskets, Babson used a putback from Damisi Adewumi (Bronx, N.Y.) and two free throws from King to extend its lead to 44-28 with 14:30 left. The Beavers maintained pressure throughout the period, stretching its lead to 50-30 on yet another Wurdeman putback with 12 minutes remaining before coasting to a 72-46 win.

Wurdeman led all players with 18 points and 13 rebounds, while King added 13 points and nine rebounds for Babson. Collins and Adewumi tallied 12 points each.

For Wellesley, Kimball tallied 17 points to lead the Blue, while Maier added nine points and eight steals. KD Stearns (Eustis, Fla.) chipped in six points and five boards.

Babson returns to action on Saturday, January 16, at 2pm, when they host the Coast Guard Academy. Wellesley will travel to Worcester on Saturday for a 3pm game at WPI.