Balanced Effort Earns Blue Basketball 59-33 Win Over Mount Holyoke

WELLESLEY, Mass. – Senior Ailis Hanley (Cranston, R.I.) scored 12 points and first year Caitlin Aguirre (El Paso, Texas) added 11 more, as Wellesley College basketball cruised to a 59-33 New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference victory over Mount Holyoke College on Tuesday evening at Gracia Mangano Martore '73 Court. 

Wellesley, now winners of three-straight, improves to 6-5 overall and 2-3 in conference play with the victory over their Seven Sisters rivals. Mount Holyoke drops to 2-10 on the season and remains winless in the NEWMAC at 0-6.

Ten different Wellesley players scored in the contest, with sophomore Zojajha Ayub (Belle Mead, N.J.) and junior Chelsea Brown (San Jose, Calif.) each chipping in with seven points apiece. First year Emily Kopp (King Ferry, N.Y.) pulled down a team-high eight rebounds for the Blue and also recorded three takeaways. Hanley added five boards, three blocks and a pair of steals to her team-high point tally. 

Mount Holyoke senior Xajaah Williams-Flores (The Bronx, N.Y.) led all players with 14 rebounds, while also scoring seven points in the contest. First year Katlyn Grover (Bernardston, Mass.) had a team-high 11 points for the Lyons, knocking down three three-pointers in the game. Junior Genesis DiCarlo (Sullivan, Maine) added nine more rebounds for Mount Holyoke, as the Lyons finished with a 38-37 advantage on the glass.

Wellesley outscored Mount Holyoke, 16-8, in the opening quarter, opening the game on a 9-0 run before the visitors responded with Grover's first three of the night at 5:19.  The Lyons took a bite out of the Wellesley advantage in the second quarter, cutting their deficit to six by the end of the frame when first year Kathryn Violette (Yokosuka City, Japan) knocked down a jumper that would send the teams into the break with Wellesley leading 24-18. Violette finished the game with six points.

The Blue took control of the game for good in the third quarter, outscoring the Lyons 17-8, while scoring the final six points of the period to carry a 41-26 lead into the final period. The margin only continued to grow at the start of the fourth quarter, as Wellesley outscored Mount Holyoke 8-2 in the opening three minutes to take a 20-point edge at 48-28.

Wellesley's lead would increase to as many as 26 points in the fourth, before the Blue closed out the 59-33 victory. The Blue enjoyed a 30-2 edge in points in the paint, and scored 32 points off of turnovers, to finish the game at 42.1 percent shooting from the field. The Lyons shot just 21.7 percent in the game.

Both the Blue and Lyons will host NEWMAC home games on Thursday, January 12, at 7:00 PM. Wellesley will welcome Clark University and Mount Holyoke will return home to host WPI.