Hanley Leads Blue Basketball To 64-55 NEWMAC Win at Emerson

BOSTON, Mass. -- Senior Ailis Hanley (Cranston, R.I.) scored a career-high 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Wellesley College basketball to a 64-55 New England Women's & Men's Athletics Conference (NEWMAC) victory over Emerson College on Saturday afternoon at Brown & Plofker Gymnasium.

Wellesley improves to 5-5 overall, picking up their first NEWMAC win of the year to move to 1-3 in conference. Emerson, who started the conference season with back-to-back victories, drops to 2-1 in NEWMAC play and 8-3 overall.

Hanley added three assists and a block in 26 minutes of action for the Blue. The senior forward was one of three Wellesley players to finish in double figures, as sophomore Zojajha Ayub (Belle Mead, N.J.) chipped in with 13 points and first year Kendall You Mak (San Francisco, Calif.) scored ten points on 4 of 6 shooting from the floor. First year Caitlin Aguirre (El Paso, Texas) collected a game-high six steals and scored nine points for the Blue.

Sophomore Charlie Boyle (Scotts Valley, Calif.) and junior Eastin Ashby (Pittston, Pa.) combined to score 25 points for the Lions, with Boyle totaling a team-high 13 and Ashby scoring 12. Boyle was also the team leader in rebounds with seven, while Ashby had a game-high four assists. Emerson got 21 points from bench players in the game, with sophomore Kate Foultz (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) chipping in with 10 points and first year Quinn Madden (Mokena, Ill.) scoring nine points to go along with six boards.

Wellesley opened the game on a 9-2 run, as three-straight buckets from Ayub, Hanley and You Mak staked the Blue to a seven-point lead less than three minutes into the contest. However, Emerson closed the opening quarter by outscoring Wellesley 16-5 over the final 6:48. The Lions took an 18-14 lead into the second period when Madden completed the opening stanza with a jumper with nine seconds to play.

The Blue closed the gap at the start of the second quarter, scoring the first five points of the period to take a 19-18 lead following a layup from Chelsea Brown (San Jose, Calif.) at 4:20. Foultz and Wellesley first year Lauren Dines (Tenafly, N.J.) exchanged buckets on the next two possessions to give the Blue a 21-20 lead. Emerson then responded with eight-straight points, including a pair of triples, to take their largest lead of the day, at 28-21, with 1:10 remaining in the quarter. A layup from Ayub sent the teams into the break with the Lions leading 28-23.

You Mak cut the margin to three with a layup to start the second half, but Emerson would eventually take a six point lead, at 34-28, when Elizabeth Horan (Ashland, Mass.) hit a three-pointer at 8:09. Down by six, Wellesley rattled off six points in-a-row to tie the contest at 34-34. Quinn helped the Lions regain the lead at 3:01, hitting a layup to make the score 36-34, but an 'and-one' on the ensuing Wellesley possession put Wellesley back in front, 37-36. The teams continued to battle back-and-forth in the closing minutes of the third, but it was the Blue that got the final bucket, as You Mak gave the Blue the lead, 45-44, with a buzzer beating layup to close out the period.

Hanley hit on a jumper just under two minutes into the fourth to make the score 47-44, before Boyle tied the contest at 47-all with an 'and-one' at 7:56. However, the next Wellesley bucket gave the Blue the lead for good when Ayub hit her only three of the contest to make the score 50-47 at 7:38. The Wellesley lead would grow to as many as nine points in the final period, as Wellesley outscored the Lions 19-11 in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach. Hanley scored six of her game-high 17 in the fourth, with Aguirre adding five of her own.

Wellesley shot a season-best 46.3 percent from the floor, limiting the Lions to just 35 percent shooting, while also owning a 42-32 advantage on the glass. The Blue also scored 24 points off of turnovers and finished with a 34-20 edge in points in the paint.

The Blue return home to host Seven Sisters rival Mount Holyoke in NEWMAC play on Tuesday, January 10, at 7:00 PM. Emerson will also continue league play on Tuesday when they travel to WPI for a 7:00 PM tip-off.