Late Comeback Falls Short as Clark Tops Blue Basketball, 54-51

WELLESLEY, Mass. -- The Clark University women's basketball team held off a late charge from Wellesley College on Tuesday night, defeating the hosts 54-51 at Keohane Sports Center. The win lifts the Cougars to 9-13 on the season, 6-11 in the NEWMAC. The Blue drop to 14-7, 11-6 in conference play.

The Cougars reached two milestones on the night, as Megan Grondin reached the 1,000-point mark for her career and head coach Pat Glispin recorded her 500th career win. Grondin became the 20th player in Clark history to reach the milestone, joining her teammates Emily Reilly and Ashleigh Condon with the honor.

Clark had three players reach double figures in scoring, led by Esther Cohn who notched a double-double with team highs of 14 points and 11 boards. Condon recorded 12 points, five rebounds and a game-high five steals, while Grondin finished the game with 11 points.

Wellesley's Leslie Leong topped all scorers with a game-high 22 points, while also adding 11 boards to notch her fourth double-double of the season. The senior also moved into a tie for eighth place on the Blue's all-time scoring list, surpassing Malia Maier '13 (1,001 points) and tying Janet Hanousek '90 with 1,022 career points.

Elsewhere for the Blue, junior Morgyne Weaver tallied 12 points to go along with a team-high five assists. Senior Katie Shulenberger rounded out the Wellesley half of the box score with eight rebounds on the night.

The teams matched jumpers and treys in the opening minutes of the game, with Esther Cohn and Olivia Lyons hitting threes for the Cougars and Leong dropping two threes for the Blue. Midway through the period, Wellesley inched to a 12-9 lead on a layup from Ailis Hanley, but Clark's Gwyneth Ivory kept the score tight with two points from the charity stripe. Four straight points from the Blue opened a 16-11 advantage, but Clark answered with another trey, this time from Brooke Brennan, to put the score at 16-14 with 8:04 remaining in the half.

Wellesley surged again, scoring six straight for a 22-14 gap. Clark responded with five of their own, including a trey from Breeann Redman to cut the lead to 22-19 at the 3:40 mark. A minute later, a Grondin layup trimmed the lead to 23-21.

In a fast-paced final minute, Clark scored four, highlighted by a fastbreak layup from Condon, while Wellesley's Leong added a layup to set the score to 25-25 at the break.

Clark opened the second period with six straight, capped off with the Grondin bucket that gave her her 1,000th point. Leong stopped the run with a three-pointer, her third of the night, to trim the lead to 31-28 at the 17:13 mark. Leong followed with two free throws on the next possession to pull the Blue with one point.

The Cougars surged again, using full-court pressure to force three Wellesley turnovers in route to 10 quick points, capped off by another three-pointer from Brennan. The Blue's Natalie Anderson ended the drought with two free throws, and Shulenberger recorded a conventional three-point play to trim the lead to 41-35 with 13:39 remaining.

Clark answered again with five straight, including another trey from Redman, for a 46-35 advantage. After a Wellesley bucket, Cohn converted on a four-point play, giving the Cougars their largest lead of the night at 50-37 with 9:56 remaining.

The Blue battled back, mounting a 12-0 run over the next eight minutes to cut the lead to 50-49. Leong and Weaver led the charge with five points and four points, respectively, with a Kendall Bianchi jumper trimming the lead to one point with 3:49 left.

Condon stopped the bleeding for Clark with a layup at the 1:46 mark, but Meghan Sargent followed with a bucket on the Blue's next possession to put the score at 52-51 with 1:21 left. Clark held strong on the defensive end, then two Condon free throws opened a three-point gap with :08 seconds remaining. A last second three from the Blue was off the mark, and the visitors held on for a 54-51 win.

Both squads return to NEWMAC action on Saturday, February 15th. Clark will travel to MIT for a 2pm match-up and Wellesley will visit WPI for a 3pm game.