No. 5 Wellesley Falls to No. 4 MIT in NEWMAC Basketball Quarterfinals, 67-53

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Sophomore Christina Antonakakis (Holmdel, N.J.) scored a career-high 33 points to lift fourth-seeded MIT to a 67-53 victory over fifth-seeded Wellesley College in the quarterfinals of the 2020 New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Women's Basketball Championship on Wednesday at Rockwell Cage. 

The Engineers (14-11 overall) advance to face top-seeded Babson College on Friday at 7:00 PM, February 29, at 7:00 PM at Staake Gymnasium in Babson Park, Mass. The NEWMAC Championship Game will take place Sunday, March 1, at the campus of the highest remaining seed in the tournament. 

Antonakakis was 7-of-14 from three-point range and knocked down 12-of-14 free throw attempts to lead the Engineers. Kylie Gallagher (Upton, Mass.) recorded a double-double, pulling down ten rebounds and scoring 10 points in 29 minutes of action. Jocelyn Luizzi (Colchester, Conn.) added 10 points and a pair of assists for MIT. 

Junior Alyssa Cho (Hillsborough, Calif.) had 19 points to lead Wellesley, finishing 8-of-15 from the floor with five rebounds. Senior Caitlin Aguirre (El Paso, Texas) dropped in 13 points in her final collegiate game, adding a game-high seven assists in 38 minutes. Aguirre finishes her Wellesley career with 1,103 points, ranking her fifth all-time in program history. Senior Emily Kopp (King Ferry, N.Y.) had six points and six rebounds and classmate Kendall You Mak (San Francisco, Calif.) added three points, three boards, and a steal in 23 minutes.

A jumper from first year Jiyun Chae (Chantilly, Va.) gave Wellesley a 10-9 lead at 3:07 of the first quarter, but MIT closed out the opening frame on a 10-0 run to take a 19-10 lead heading into the second. 

Aguirre and Cho hit back-to-back buckets to open the second, trimming the lead to five, 19-14, at 7:56. Wellesley would eventually work the lead down to just three points, 26-23, when Cho hit a jumper at 2:32. A triple from Paula Pieper (Greenville, S.C.) stretched the MIT lead back to six at 2:14, but Kopp closed out the quarter with a layup that made the score 29-25 at the half.

MIT continued to cling to its halftime advantage for much of a back-and-forth third quarter. Cho pulled Wellesley within one at 3:55, knocking down a jumper to make the score 37-36, but MIT never relinquished the lead, outscoring the Blue by one point, 17-16, in the frame to carry a 46-41 lead to the fourth. 

Cho and Aguirre dropped in the first two baskets in the fourth to again cut the MIT advantage to one, 46-45. Antonakakis followed with a pair of free throws, the first two of her 14 points in the final quarter that helped the Engineers put the game away. Antonakakis scored ten straight MIT points from the 6:03 mark to the 2:50 mark of the fourth to help MIT take a 56-51 lead. The Engineers went on to outscore the Blue 11-2 over the final two minutes of regulation to close out the win. 

MIT finished the contest 19-of-56 (41.3%) from the floor and a staggering 12-for-25 (48%) from three. Wellesley countered at 41.2% (21-of-51) from the floor but hit just 3-of-7 attempts from deep. MIT had a 32-29 advantage on the glass and scored 23 points off of 17 Wellesley turnovers. Wellesley converted just 10 points off of 16 MIT giveaways. 

Wellesley concludes the 2019-20 season with a 14-9 overall record, advancing to the NEWMAC tournament for the second straight season under the guidance of Head Coach Jennifer Kroll.