Wellesley Basketball Dealt 57-37 Setback By Middlebury

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – Middlebury College used an early 11-0 run to lead 15-8 after one quarter and never looked back in a 57-37 win over Wellesley College basketball on Wednesday at Pepin Gymnasium. The Panthers improved to 7-5 on the season while the Blue fell to 6-5 overall.

Junior Alexa Mustafaj (Yonkers, N.Y) led all scorers with 24 points for Middlebury while classmate Kale Tornwini (Burlington, Vt.) had a double-double 12 points and 10 rebounds. Senior Bethany Lucey (Topsfield, Mass.) also pulled down 10 boards and recorded a pair of blocks.

Senior Jiyun Chae (Chantilly, Va.), sophomore Arla Hofer (Las Vegas, Nev.), and first years Trinity Barrow (Evans, Ga.) and Mirella Funari (Phoenix, Ariz.) all scored at least seven points for the Blue. Junior Caitlin Windross (Eastvale, Calif.) led the team with six rebounds and first year Anna Bandini (Raleigh, N.C.) had a game-high three blocks.

Mustafaj scored eight points in the first quarter to pace the Panthers' offense. Middlebury scored nine of its 15 first quarter points off of turnovers and shot seven-for-17 (41.2%) from the field.

Middlebury's lead grew to 12 by halftime, with Mustafaj adding on six more points in the second quarter. For Wellesley, Hofer picked up six second quarter points with a trio of jump shots. 

The Blue outscored the Panthers 16-14 in the third quarter to make the score 40-30 in Middlebury's favor. Despite a solid shooting quarter, Wellesley never got the game back to single digits and each team made six baskets in the quarter.

The Panthers scored the first seven points of the fourth to bring the score to 47-30 with roughly five minutes remaining in the game. Middlebury never let its lead drop below 15 and closed out a 57-37 win.

Middlebury shot 24-for-69 (34.8%) for the game while limiting Wellesley to 15-for-50 (30.0%) shooting. The Panthers won the battle of the boards 51-30 and tallied 38 points in the paint.

The Blue return home to host Dean on Monday, January 8 at 2:00 PM and the Panthers head to Hamilton on Friday, January 5 for a 7:00 PM contest.