Cho Records First Career Double-Double in Blue Basketball's Setback to Emerson

WELLESLEY, Mass. – Wellesley College basketball first year Alyssa Cho (Hillsborough, Calif.) recorded her first career double-double, scoring 13 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, but visiting Emerson College earned a 61-55 New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) victory over the Blue on Wednesday evening at Gracia Mangano Martore '73 Court. 

Emerson improves to 3-8 overall, snapping a five-game skid with their first conference win (1-3) of the season. The Blue are now 3-7 (1-3 NEWMAC), as the two sides split the season series after Wellesley came away with a 61-53 win at Emerson in November. 

Senior Maya Savino (Killingworth, Conn.) dropped in a game-high 15 points to lead Emerson, knocking down 5-of-6 attempts from distance. Sophomore Natalie Clydesdale (Pittsburgh, Pa.), sophomore Kate Foultz (Thousand Oaks, Calif.), and junior Charlie Boyle (Scotts Valley, Calif.) chipped in with 13, 12, and 11 points, respectively. Boyle finished just one rebound shy of a double-double with nine, while junior guard Natalie Busch (Weybridge, England) racked-up a game-high four assists.

Wellesley sophomore Caitlin Aguirre (El Paso, Texas) chipped in with 11 points on 5-of-11 shooting, while senior guard Kayla Jang (South Pasadena, Calif.) had three assists and four rebounds in 37 minutes of action. Classmate Chelsea Brown (San Jose, Calif.) finished the game with six points and five rebounds off the Wellesley bench. 

Emerson outscored the Blue 18-8 in a lopsided first quarter. With the Blue holding an early 3-2 lead, a jumper from Boyle at 7:27 sent the Lions on a 12-2 run that would lead to a 14-5 Emerson advantage with just over four minutes left in the frame. Brown stopped the run at 3:37, pulling the Blue within seven, at 14-7, but Emerson scored four of the final five points in the quarter to take an 18-8 lead into the second. The Lions would lead for the remainder of the contest, again holding the Blue to eight points in the second quarter, as Foultz capped the stanza with a triple at 1:12 to send Emerson to the half with a 31-16. 

The Blue outscored the Lions in the third quarter, paced by seven points from Cho, cutting the deficit to 12, at 45-33, heading into the fourth. Wellesley would get as close as ten in the early stages of the fourth but the Lions would go on to regain their 15-point halftime edge en route to the 61-55 victory. 

Emerson shot 45.8% (27-of-59) from the floor in the contest, hitting 9-of-20 attempts from beyond the arc. The Blue countered at 33.3% (18-of-54) from the field and hit just 3-of-13 attempts from three. Wellesley finished with a sizeable 42-28 edge in rebounds.

Both teams continue NEWMAC play on Saturday, January 6. The Blue will host Springfield at 2:00 PM, while Emerson will host Smith at 1:00 PM.