Smith Sinks Blue Basketball on Senior Day

WELLESLEY, Mass. — Smith College opened the game on a 7-0 run and never trailed en route to a 70-61 victory over Wellesley College basketball in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) regular-season finale for both teams on Saturday afternoon at Dorothy Towne Fieldhouse. 

Smith improves to 10-15 on the season, moving to 6-10 in the conference. They will await word on seeding for the 2015 NEWMAC Championship tournament. 

Four Smith players scored in double-figures, led by first year Meghan Holland's (Atherton, Calif.) 15 points. Senior Alyssa Barrett (Berlin, Conn.) added 13 points off the Pioneer bench, while first years Samantha Alakai (Honolulu, Hawaii) and Paige Marquez (San Francisco, Calif) chipped in with 11 and 10 points respectively. Alakai also dished out a game-high five assists, while first year Amanda Barriscale (Mill Valley, Calif) tied for game-high honors with 11 rebounds. 

Playing the 100th game of her collegiate career, senior Morgyne Weaver (Oklahoma City, Okla.) tallied a game-high 19 points and 11 rebounds to record her sixth double-double of the season. Weaver finishes her career in Blue with 1,092 points, good for fifth on the school's all-time list. Her 589 career rebounds rank her eighth in school history. 

Also playing in their final collegiate game, fellow seniors Meghan Sargent (Bedford, N.H.), Kendall Bianchi (Arlington, Va.) and Natalie Anderson (Bellevue, Wa.) added eight, five and four points respectively. The quartet started the game alongside first year Kayla Jang (South Pasadena, Calif.), who added eight points, a pair of steals and two rebounds. Junior Chelsi Scott also finished in double-figures for the Blue, scoring 12 points while shooting a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. 

Smith opened the game with a tremendous display from the field, shooting 63 percent in the opening half. The Blue broke the Pioneers' early 7-0 run, thanks to a jumper from Weaver at 17:24, but the visitors continued to fire on all cylinders, leading by double-digits for most of the opening stanza. 

Anderson briefly cut the deficit to single digits with 5:31 left before the half, scoring on a layup to make the score 29-21. However, Smith responded with a 10-2 run, capped by a three-pointer from Tia Karapoulios (Cypress, Calif.) to close the half with a 39-23 advantage. 

Smith earned its largest lead of the contest on the other side of the break when Holland connected on her first attempt to put the Pioneers up 42-23 just sixteen seconds in. The Blue slowly chipped away at their largest deficit of the afternoon, using an 11-2 run to get back within ten, at 44-34, following a layup from Sargent at 13:33.

Smith responded with their own 11-2 run, taking a 55-36 lead thanks to Barrett's second three-pointer on the day at 10:32. Barrett shot a perfect 4-for-4 from the floor and 3-for-3 from beyond the arc in the contest.  Despite seeing the Smith lead increase again, Wellesley continued to hang around, using a 13-4 run to again get the Pioneer advantage down to ten points when Bianchi knocked down a three-pointer with just over five minutes to play. 

Wellesley would eventually get as close as six, at 66-60, when Jang converted on a layup following a steal by Sargent at center court. However, that is as close as the Blue would get as Smith held on for the 70-61 victory. 

Today's contest concludes the 2014-15 for the Wellesley Basketball team. The team finishes the season with a 7-17 overall record and 4-12 record in NEWMAC play.