Blue Basketball Falls at Babson

BABSON PARK, Mass.— Senior Lindsey Roche (Arlington, Mass.) led all scorers with a season-high 13 points, and Babson College shot 57.4 percent from the field en route to a 78-56 victory over visiting Wellesley College in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's basketball action on Tuesday night at Staake Gymnasium.

With its third straight win, Babson is now 9-5 overall and 5-1 in the conference. Wellesley, which had won two straight games, drops to 5-8 overall and 2-4 in the NEWMAC.

Roche scored all 13 of her points in the first half and finished 4-of-6 from the field and 3-of-5 from three-point range for the Beavers. Senior Erin Young (Westwood, Mass.) scored nine points, while sophomore Jennifer Narlee (Medfield, Mass.) and first-year Brenna LeGacy (Attleboro, Mass.) each added eight points. Sophomore Giovanna Pickering (Hull, Mass.) scored six points and matched her career high with seven assists in the win.

First-year Kayla Jang (South Pasadena, Calif.) led the Blue with 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting. Senior Morgyne Weaver (Oklahoma City, Okla.), who pulled down a game-high nine rebounds, and classmates Natalie Anderson (Bellevue, Wash.) and Meghan Sargent (Bedford, N.H.) all chipped in with eight points apiece.

Leading by three following a jumper by Weaver with 11:45 to play in the opening half Babson broke the game open with an 11-0 run. Three straight points from Pickering, two free throws from Narlee and a layup in transition from LeGacy made it 23-13 with 7:31 to go. Roche buried the first of her three first-half treys on the next possession, and Narlee knocked down 1-of-2 at the free throw line to give the Beavers a 27-13 edge with 4:33 left in the stanza. 

Wellesley cut its deficit to 34-22 on a three-pointer by senior Kendall Bianchi (Arlington, Va.) with 1:33 left in the period, but Babson got back-to-back trifectas from Roche and Young in the final 34 seconds of the half to take a 42-24 lead into the locker room. Babson shot 60.9 percent (14-of-23) in the first half and knocked down six of its eight attempts from beyond the arc.

After Babson pushed its lead to 21 just over two minutes into the second half, a pair of free throws from Weaver and a three-pointer by Jang got the Blue to within 46-30 at the 17:16 mark.  The Beavers countered by scoring on three of its next four possessions though, including back-to-back jumpers by sophomores Ashley Snyder (Foxboro, Mass.) and Taylor Russell (Braintree, Mass.) to push the lead back to 52-30 just four and a half minutes into the stanza.

The Beavers led 54-35 with just over 11 minutes left to play before Young and first-year Hannah Metcalf (Middlebury, Conn.) combined for 11 points as part of a 13-6 spurt. Following a jumper by junior Megan Otto (Scituate, Mass.), Metcalf and Young drilled consecutive three-pointers to build a 62-37 edge. Metcalf followed a pair of free throws by Wellesley sophomore Ailis Hanley (Cranston, R.I.) with two of her own, and Young buried another trey two possessions later to give the Beavers their biggest lead of the night at 67-41 with 6:24 remaining.

Babson, which was 27-of-47 from the floor, went 69.2 percent from beyond the arc and matched its season high with nine three-point field goals. The Beavers also recorded 21 assists and turned 26 Blue turnovers into 28 points.

Wellesley finished the night shooting 33.3 percent (15-of-45) from the floor. The Blue did go 20-of-25 at the free throw line (80 percent), and held a 29-27 advantage on the glass.

Both teams return to action on Thursday at 7 p.m. as Babson hosts WPI, while Wellesley travels to Wheaton.

Courtesy Babson Athletic Communications