Wellesley Basketball Upsets Wheaton, 61-59
Tonight's game took place in a packed house, including former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Albright (Wellesley, '59) was honored at halftime with the NCAA's Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt Award, presented annually to a former NCAA student-athlete for whom competitive athletics in college and attention to physical well-being have been important factors in a distinguished career. Joining in the award ceremony were NCAA President, Jim Isch, and Senior Advisor to the NCAA President, Wallace Renfro, along with Karen Durkin, Chief Executive Officer of the Women's Sports Foundation, and Kim Bottomly, President of Wellesley College.
Wheaton opened the game with a bucket on its first possession, but Wellesley answered with nine straight points, including seven from Maier for a 9-2 lead at the 16:41 mark. After another Wellesley basket, a three pointer from Wheaton's Gabby Barbera (Ridgewood, N.J.) broke the string and trimmed the Wellesley lead to 11-5.
The Blue maintained the pressure with six points from Becca Kimball (Weston, Mass.), but the visitors kept pace with six points from Natasha Colon Ortiz (Holyoke, Mass.). Two more driving buckets from Kimball pushed the Wellesley lead to 21-12, but Wheaton responded with a 9-0 run, including a trey from Andrea Bailey (Bedford, Mass.) and two more Colon Ortiz to tie the game at 21-21. A free throw gave the visitors a one-point lead, but Wellesley answered with an 8-2 run, including eight more from Kimball, for 29-24 edge with 3:25 remaining. Two free throws from Gabbie DePalo (Rumson, N.J.) trimmed the lead to three, but Wellesley finished the half with a steal and breakaway layup from Maier for a 31-26 lead at the intermission.
The Lyons opened the second half with four straight, cutting the lead to one, before a trey from Laura Barrett (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.) and Robyn Burleson (Seattle, Wash.) pushed the lead back to seven. Wheaton replied with a three from Barbera to trim the lead to 38-33, a 9-2 run from Wellesley stretched the lead to 47-35, the Blue's largest lead of the game.
The Lyons pushed back with eight unanswered points, including a long three from Andrea Bailey (Needham, Mass.) to cut the edge to 47-43. Kimball used a spinning layup to break the drought for the Blue, giving them a 49-43 advantage. Maier followed with a trey to push the lead back to nine with 9:38 left.
After two scoreless minutes, a Lyon free throw cut the Wellesley lead to eight points. A jumper from Jenny Champney (Bedford, Mass.) then trimmed the lead to six with 5:46 left, but two free throws from Ashleigh Sargent (Bedford, N.H.) broke the Lyons string and put the score at 54-46. Wheaton then used a 9-1 run, courtesy of hot shotting from Champney, to tie the game at 55-55. Champney drained yet another jumper to give the Lyons a 57-55 lead with 1:49 left. Sargent tied the game with two free throws at the 1:12 mark, but Champney's turn-around jumper with :33 left gave the Lyons the lead. Maier answered with a bucket with :20 remaining, then followed with a steal and two free throws for a 61-59 lead with :12 remaining. One more stop gave the Blue the two-point win.
Champney led the Lyons with 20 points and eight rebounds, including 12 points in the final six minutes of the game. Bailey added 10 points and seven rebounds, while Colon Ortiz chipped in 10 points and six boards in the loss. Bailey's five assists give her a career total of 433, first all-time in Wheaton basketball.
Maier led the Blue with 22 points, five assists and five steals. Kimball tallied 21 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, while Sargent added nine points and Burleson chipped in six.
Wheaton returns to action on Saturday, January 23, when they travel to Mount Holyoke for a 2:00 pm match-up. Wellesley will travel to Northampton on Saturday for a 2:00 pm game at Smith.