Strong Second Half Leads Wellesley Basketball Over Smith

WELLESLEY, Mass. -- Sparked by hot second-half shooting, the Wellesley College basketball team downed Smith College, 68-53, on Saturday afternoon at Keohane Sports Center. The win lifts the Blue to 5-2 overall, 3-1 in NEWMAC competition. The Pioneers drop to 2-4, 2-3 in conference play.

After a statistically even first period, in which Smith shot 33% to Wellesley's 35%, the Blue caught fire in the second period. Despite an aggressive Smith defense that forced 27 Wellesley turnovers, the Blue put the game out of reach in the second half by shooting an eye-popping 64% from the field, 67% from behind the arc.

Wellesley's Leslie Leong recorded a double-double with a season-high 23 points to go along with 11 rebounds. She rounded out her stat line with a game-high five assists. Morgyne Weaver had a hot second half for the Blue, finishing with eight points and eight rebounds, with all but one board coming in the final 20 minutes of play. Rounding out the leaders for the Blue, Katie Shulenberger recorded eight points, Chelsi Scott finished with seven points and six boards, while Natalie Anderson added seven points in the win.

Smith was paced by 14 points from Rosa Drummond, all of which came in the second half. Lauren Weston contributed 11 points and five rebounds, coming off the bench for Smith, while Jade Chihara chipped in with nine points. Wrapping up the stat line for the Pioneers, Sydney Parkmond had six points, and a team-high eight rebounds, while Jazmine Collins added six points and five boards.

The squads traded buckets in the opening minutes of an evenly-fought first half. Chihara led the visitors with two early buckets while Leong kept the game close with timely shooting for the Blue.

Neither team gained a significant advantage until Smith's Alyssa Barrett drained a trey at the 10:01 mark for a 19-14 advantage. The Blue battled back to tie the score at 22-22 on a driving lay-up from Leong, but Smith answered with baskets from Collins and Chihara for a 26-22 lead with 3:46 remaining. Wellesley battled back with four straight to send the squads into the break tied at 26-26.

Both teams came out hot in the second half, with Smith's Drummond sinking six quick points and Wellesley keeping pace with buckets from Weaver and Scott. Wellesley began its run midway through the period, when a Kendall Bianchi trey and layup from Scott gave the Blue a 42-38 lead with 12:36 remaining. Three minutes later, a deep three-pointer from Leong gave Wellesley its biggest lead of the game at 50-43. Meghan Sargent followed with two more, giving the hosts a nine-point edge.

Drummond stopped the bleeding with a three on Smith's next possession, but Wellesley responded with seven straight points, capped off by another Leong trey, for a 59-46 lead with 5:23 left, as the hosts cruised to the 68-53 win.

Smith returns to action on December 10 at 7pm, when they host Westfield State in a non-conference game. Wellesley is off for the holidays and will take the court on December 30, when they travel to Wesleyan for a 5pm match-up.