Wellesley Falls to WPI, 72-56
WELLESLEY, Mass. – Despite senior Jessica Duff (Milton, Abingdon, UK) scoring the 1000th point of her career, the Wellesley basketball team fell to NEWMAC leader WPI, 72-57, at Keohane Sports Center. The win lifts WPI to 16-5 overall, 8-1 in conference play. The Blue fall to 8-8 on the season with a 2-6 mark in the NEWMAC.
Wellesley got on the board first, with a three-pointer from Duff to take the early lead. WPI answered with a 14-6 run, courtesy of two buckets each fromSerena Dubois (Bangor, ME) and Kaileen Selen (Worcester, MA), to take a 14-9 lead. But Wellesley battled back with hot shooting from Courtney Richter (Sinking Springs, PA) to cut the lead to 22-21 at the 9:10 mark.
WPI responded with five straight points to stretch the lead back to six, before a 10-foot jumper from Wellesley's Richter trimmed the Engineers' advantage to 27-23. The visitors then tallied six consecutive points to push the lead to 10, behind a solid performance from Selen (12 first-half points). But Wellesley closed out the half with four straight, including a trey from Elisha Orama (Miramar, FL), as the teams went to the lockerrooms with the Blue trailing 33-27.
In the opening minutes of the second half, Wellesley trimmed the lead to 36-33. Then the squads traded buckets until four straight points from KD Stearns (Eustis, FL) brought the Blue to within two at 41-39. The Engineers replied with four points of their own to stretch their lead back to six, but two free throws from Duff kept the Blue within four with 11:00 left on the clock.
The teams exchanged baskets once again until two more free throws from Duff -- the 999th and 1000th points of her career -- cut the lead to 52-49 with 7:30 left. But Selen and Elle Fontaine (Franklin, MA) led the Engineers on an 8-2 run to open an eight-point edge with 4:30 remaining. The visitors never looked back, coasting to a 72-56 victory.
WPI's Selen led all scorers with a career-high 28 points, surpassing her previous high of 23 (at Fitchburg State on 12/1/07 and vs Clark on 1/19/09). Selen also tallied four rebounds and five steals in the win. Caitlin Macko (Cromwell, CT) and Fontaine added 11 and 10 points, respectively, while Natasha Deschene (Presque Island, ME) led the Engineers on the boards with five rebounds.
Duff notched her 12th double-double of the year with 17 points and 17 rebounds. Richter added 12 points and seven boards, while Orama tallied eight points and Robyn Burleson (Seattle, WA) chipped in seven points.
Both teams return to the court for NEWMAC action on Saturday, February 6. WPI will host Smith at 2:00 p.m., while Wellesley will travel to Mount Holyoke for a 2:00 p.m. matchup.