MIT Grabs NEWMAC Victory against Blue Basketball

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – MIT scored early and often to secure a 73-43 NEWMAC win over Wellesley College basketball on Wednesday night at Rockwell Cage.

Junior Kamsi Nwogu (Algonquin, Ill.) led all student-athletes with 16 points on seven-of-eight shooting and eight rebounds for the Engineers (12-5 Overall, 3-1 NEWMAC). Junior Angie Choi (Cypress, Calif.) chipped in 12 points and senior Grace Harrington (Seattle, Wash.) recorded five assists.

Senior Jiyun Chae (Chantilly, Va.) scored 12 points for the Blue (7-9 Overall, 0-4 NEWMAC). Junior Caitlin Windross (Eastvale, Calif.) and first year Mirella Funari (Phoenix, Ariz.) both had at least 10 points for Wellesley and first year Anna Bandini (Raleigh, N.C.) had a game-high three blocks.

The teams started off even with the score tied 6-6 five minutes into play. MIT applied offensive pressure with three pointers from Choi and grad student Christina Antonakakis (Holmdel, N.J.) giving the Engineers a 19-12 lead eight minutes into the opening quarter. MIT finished the quarter with Nwogu making a pair of foul shots to get the score to 23-14 after one quarter. 

The Blue scored the first four points of the second quarter before the Engineers responded with four of its own to keep the lead at nine at the five minute mark. A 5-0 stretch put MIT up 12 and the Engineers went into halftime with a 36-22 advantage.

After a quick Wellesley basket from Funari the Engineers went on an 18-2 run over the next six minutes. The result was MIT leading comfortably 54-26 with three minutes left in the third. MIT's lead hit 31 by the end of the third with the scoreboard reading 59-28.

Wellesley narrowly outscored MIT 15-14 in the fourth quarter as the Engineers finished off a 73-43 win.

MIT shot 29-for-69 (42.0%) from the floor, making 10-of-30 (33.3%) of its threes. The Engineers controlled the glass, pulling down 48 rebounds to the Blue's 29. MIT scored 34 points in the paint.

On Saturday, January 27, the Blue host Coast Guard at Dorothy Towne Fieldhouse at 1:00 PM. The Engineers are home that same day with a 2:00 PM game against Mount Holyoke.