MIT Rallies Past Wellesley Basketball in NEWMAC Action, 54-50

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- MIT sophomore Christina Antonakakis (Holmdel, N.J.) scored a game-high 25 points to help rally the host Engineers to a 54-50 New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) victory over Wellesley College basketball on Wednesday evening at Rockwell Cage.

In a game that featured six ties and nine lead changes, MIT trailed by seven at the half but outscored the Blue 37-26 in the second half to improve to 12-11 overall and 6-3 in conference play. Wellesley is now 14-7 overall and 6-3 in NEWMAC games. MIT's victory moves the Engineers into a tie with the Blue and Smith College for the third spot in the standings with one conference game left to play for each team.

Wellesley senior Emily Kopp (King Ferry, N.Y.) scored 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting to lead the Blue. Classmate Cailtin Aguirre (El Paso, Texas) added 10 points to go along with a game-high five assists and three steals. First year Jiyun Chae (Chantilly, Va.) added 14 points to finish in double-figures for the fifth time in her last six games. Junior Alyssa Cho (Hillsborough, Calif.) grabbed ten boards to lead all players.

Antonakakis finished the game 5-of-13 from the floor and 4-for-11 from three-point range to lead MIT. Junior Jocelyn Luizzi (Colchester, Conn.) was the only other MIT player to finish in double-figures, scoring 15 points, while pulling down six rebounds. Senior Alexis Groark (Elwood, N.Y.) finished with a team-high nine rebounds for the Engineers. Sophomore Paula Pieper (Greenville, S.C.) added a team-high three steals and three assists in 32 minutes off the bench.

MIT opened the game with a 13-7 first quarter advantage but the Blue wrestled back the lead with a dominating second quarter. Wellesley held the Engineers to just one made field goal in the second stanza, outscoring MIT 17-4, while knocking down 3-of-5 attempts from deep.

Wellesley took its biggest lead of the game at 1:56 of the second quarter, when a layup from Pujita Shukla (Austin, Texas) put the Blue ahead 22-15. MIT's Kylie Gallagher (Upton, Mass.) knocked down a pair of free throws over the final two minutes but the Blue would take the seven-point edge into the break when Kopp dropped in a layup in the final seconds of the first to make the score 24-17.

MIT outscored Wellesley 19-12 in the third quarter to tie the game at 36-36 heading into the fourth quarter. However, Wellesley opened the fourth on a 5-0 run to retake its advantage, 41-36, when Shukla hit the first of two free throws at 7:22. Wellesley would lead by as many as five in the fourth, but Antonakakis was the story, scoring 13 of her 25 points in the final frame. Antonakakis was 3-for-3 from the three-point line and knocked down a pair of free throws in the final minute to help MIT hold-on for a 54-50 win after Cho had cut the lead to 52-20 with a layup in the final minute.

Wellesley finished the game 19-of-55 (34.5%) from the floor and had a 40-33 advantage in rebounds. MIT countered at 14-for-45 (31.1%) from the floor. MIT was 19-of-26 from the free throw line while Wellesley was 5-for-8.

Wellesley will close out the NEWMAC regular season at noon on Saturday, February 22, at Springfield. MIT travels to Wheaton for a 3:00 PM tip on Saturday.