Colby-Sawyer Ends Blue Basketball's Five-Game Win Streak, 51-46

NEW LONDON, N.H. – First year Trinity Barrow (Evans, Ga.) had game-highs in points (16), rebounds (10), assists (6) and steals (4) but despite a late-game comeback effort, Wellesley College basketball fell 51-46 to Colby-Sawyer College to begin the new year at Dan & Kathleen Hogan Sports Center on Tuesday. The loss snapped a five-game win streak for the Blue (6-4 Overall).

Grad student Lia Raynowska (Brentwood, N.H.), junior Courtney Brewster (Castleton, Vt.) and sophomore Elyza Mitchell (Spofford, N.H.) all scored 11 points for the Chargers (3-7 Overall) with Raynowska going three-for-six from behind the three point line. Junior Marissa Holt (Alfred, Maine) pulled down nine rebounds while Mitchell had a trio of assists and two steals.

In addition to Barrow, senior Jiyun Chae (Chantilly, Va.) contributed 11 points to the Blue's cause and sophomore Arla Hofer (Las Vegas, Nev.) grabbed nine rebounds.

Down 40-31 with eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Wellesley went on 6-0 run with layups from Hofer, junior Caitlin Windross (Eastvale, Calif.), and Barrow to cut the deficit to three by the four-minute mark. 

At the 3:37 mark, Holt hit a step-back three to bring the lead back to seven before each team had its own 4-0 run to make it 48-41 in Colby-Sawyer's favor with one minute left in the game. 

A triple from Chae at around 50 seconds kept the Blue's hopes alive and a steal from first year Mirella Funari set up a Barrow layup to make it a one position game at 48-46 with 44 seconds remaining. Mitchell had a key basket and free throw to bring Colby-Sawyer's lead back to five with 18 seconds remaining, where it remained through the final buzzer.

Colby-Sawyer led 21-18 at halftime and outscored the Blue 18-11 on six-of-nine shooting in the third quarter to go up 10 points heading into the fourth. 

The Chargers shot 17-for-49 (34.7%) from the field and the Blue went 21-for-70 (30.0%). Colby-Sawyer outrebounded Wellesley 46-38 while the Blue put up 20 of its points from inside the paint.

Next up, the Blue play a 2:00 PM game tomorrow at Middlebury and the Chargers travel to Coast Guard for a 1:00 PM game on Thursday, January 4.