Wellesley Basketball Grabs NEWMAC Victory at Emerson

BOSTON, Mass. -- The Wellesley College basketball team picked up its first NEWMAC win of the young season with a 69-54 victory on the road at Emerson College on Tuesday evening. The win improves the Blue to 3-2 overall, 1-1 in the NEWMAC, while Emerson's season mark moves to 3-2 overall, 1-1 in NEWMAC play.

Four Wellesley players finished in double-figures, led by a season-high 19 points from Leslie Leong. The senior rounded out her stat sheet with five assists and five boards. Sophomore Chelsi Scott finished with 13 points and a team-high of nine rebounds, while junior Morgyne Weaver and first-year Ailis Hanley each added 10 points in the win. 

Emerson was paced by 13 points and six rebounds from Janissa Delzo, while Elizabeth Horan added 12 points from the bench. Kristin Brice had a nice stat line with eight points, seven rebounds, and four blocks on the evening. Rounding out the Lions offense, Kelsey Johnson picked up six points and six boards, while Catherine Cloutier added five points and five rebounds.

Wellesley shot 45% from the field, holding Emerson to just 33% shooting. The Blue recorded a 42-35 edge in rebounding, while also forcing 17 Lions turnovers on the night.

Emerson scored the first seven points of the half, blanking the Blue for the first four minutes of play. Wellesley turned things around quickly, however, putting together a 25-2 run that spanned the next eight minutes, to set the score to 29-9 with 8:48 on the clock. The Blue's run was sparked by a combined 19 points from Leong and Scott during the hot streak.

The hosts were able to get back into the game with a run of their own, out-scoring Wellesley 10-2 over the next three minutes. Horan hit a pair of threes during the stretch, setting the score to 27-19 Blue with under five to play in the half. 

Emerson whittled the Blue lead back down to seven on two occasions, but Wellesley closed out the first half with a three from Natalie Anderson, setting the score to 36-26 at the break.

Wellesley's Leong led all scorers with 12 points at the half, while Scott added nine. Horan, Sienna O'Han and Delzo each had six for the Lions. 

Emerson wasted little time getting back into the game in the early part of the second half, as the Lions cut the lead to four at 38-34 on four points each from Cloutier and Brice. Wellesley got a bucket from Scott at 13:28, but Emerson answered with another Horan three, setting the score to 40-37 with 12:56 to play. 

Wellesley gained some breathing room with a 9-4 run, capped by a Kendall Bianchi three at 7:24, but again Emerson answered, as yet another Horan trey made it 49-44 with 6:45 to play. 

The Blue fired back with four Weaver points and threes from Leong and Hanley to create a 13-point cushion (59-46) with 5:03 remaining in the game, and Emerson would get no closer. The Blue closed out the contest with four more points each from Hanley and Leong, while Emerson's Delzo hit a three at the buzzer, setting the final to 69-54.

Wellesley is back in action on Wednesday, December 4th, as the Blue travel to Babson for a 7:00pm NEWMAC clash. Emerson also returns to action next Wednesday at 7:00pm, with the Lions heading to Wheaton for a NEWMAC match-up.