Smith Spoils Senior Day for Wellesley Basketball

WELLESLEY, Mass. – Led by Paulina Solis's shooting and aggressive team defense, Smith College spoiled Senior Day at Wellesley College, defeating the Blue 65-53 on Saturday at Keohane Sports Center. The win lifts the Pioneers to 22-3 overall, 16-2 in NEWMAC play. Wellesley drops to 13-9, 12-6 in the conference.

Solis tallied 25 points on the day, including four of Smith's eight three-pointers, while the Pioneers' defense grabbed 17 steals and forced 34 Wellesley turnovers. The Blue stayed close with an effective inside game (20 points in the paint), but a second-half surge sealed the win for Smith.

Wellesley's seniors started Senior Day right, as Malia Maier and Ashleigh Sargent combined for two steals and five points in the opening minutes to give the Blue a 7-3 advantage. Smith quickly closed the gap with three freethrows from Solis, who accounted for all of Smith's points until Rosa Drummond's jumper gave the Pioneers an 11-9 lead at the 14:22 mark.

The squads traded baskets until Smith went on an 8-0 run to take a 23-15 advantage with 3:49 remaining. Wellesley ended its drought on a fast-break layup from Nat Anderson, cutting the lead to 23-17 with 2:40 left in the half. The Blue held the Pioneers scoreless for the remainder of the period, as Ashleigh Sargent and Morgyne Weaver combined for six points to tie the game at 23-23 at intermission.

Solis led Smith to a quick start in the second half, sinking back-to-back jumpers to give the Pioneers a 29-25 advantage. Wellesley responded with six straight points to take the lead, 31-29, courtesy of two free throws from Leslie Leong and buckets from Chelsi Scott and Courtney Jackson.

Midway through the period, with Wellesley holding a slim 37-36 edge, another three-pointer from Solis gave the Pioneers the lead and sparked an 11-0 run that would give Smith the lead the good. Wellesley trimmed the lead to 49-41 on consecutive jumpers from Ashleigh Sargent with 5:56 remaining, but Smith surged again, pushing the lead to 19 points in route to the 65-53 win.

Smith's Solis led all players with 25 points, while also adding four assists and four steals. Devon Quattrocchi added 14 points, while Drummond picked up six points and a game-high seven rebounds. Wrapping up the Smith leaders, Amanda Zakoske and Alyssa Barrett each added six points.

Ashleigh Sargent led Wellesley with 13 points, while Anderson, Scott, and Meghan Sargent each added seven. Courtney Jackson recorded six points, five rebounds, and Maier rounded out the box score with four points, five steals, five assists and five rebounds.

Both Smith and Wellesley will now head to the NEWMAC Tournament. Smith, the #2 seed, has a first-round bye and will play in the semifinals on Saturday at Babson. Wellesley, the #3 seed, will face #6 Clark on Wednesday at 7:00pm at home. The winner of Wellesley's first-round game will play Smith in the semis. 

Head Coach Jennifer Kroll, Ashleigh Sargent, Malia Maier, Assistant Coach Al Berger