Brickley reaches 800-career points plateau in loss

NORTON, Mass. – The Wheaton College women's basketball team, ranked No. 22 in the USA TODAY Sports/Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division III Top-25 poll, fell to Babson College, 70-53, in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) matchup on Saturday afternoon at Emerson Gymnasium.

Wheaton junior forward Abbie Brickley (Sandy, Utah/Skyline) surpassed the 800-career points plateau with 15 points including a 5-for-6 performance and also hauled in six rebounds. Sophomore Kiley Shoemaker (Fayetteville, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius) added seven points, seven rebounds, five blocks and a pair of assists and steals. Classmate Rebecca Arnone (Litchfield, N.H./Campbell) chipped in with eight points and three rebounds, while junior guard Kirsten Ferrari (Lynn, Mass./Saint Mary's) registered seven points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Babson sophomore forward Linnett Graber (Roseland, N.J./Gill St. Bernard's) led all scorers with 16 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field and 7-of-10 from the free throw line to go along with nine rebounds. Freshman forward Jennifer Narlee (Medfield, Mass./Medfield) tallied a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds, while sophomore guard Kristen Ferola (Amherst, Mass./Amherst Regional) finished with 11 points, five rebounds and two assists. Junior guard Erin Young (Westwood, Mass./Westwood) also collected nine points, all on three pointers.

The Beavers shot 38.5-percent (25-for-67) from the field, held a 48-38 advantage on the boards and outscored the hosts, 28-20, in the paint. Wheaton went 33.3-percent (18-for-56) from the floor and recorded 12 blocks including five from senior forward Sarah Fitzgerald (Bath, Maine/Morse).

Babson went into the break with a 37-29 advantage as the Beavers capitalized on their transition game ending the half with a 15-4 differential in the category. Eight different student-athletes contributed in the scoring column as junior guard Lindsey Roche (Arlington, Mass./Arlington Catholic) and Ferola led the way for the visitors in the opening stanza with seven points apiece. Babson broke open the contest at the 11:02 mark with a 21-9 run spanning over 7:54. During the spurt, the Beavers canned four 3-pointers, while Roche paced the squad with all seven of her first half points.

In the second stanza, Wheaton responded with an 11-8 run to bring its deficit down to seven points (47-40) at the 15:21 mark of the half. Brickley fueled the offense with eight points and Arnone swished a three-pointer with 17:29 on the clock to highlight the run.

The Beavers answered with a 13-3 spurt of their own and never looked back. Graber poured in a team-high six points during the run to help push Babson's winning streak over Wheaton to 12-straight games, which dates back to 2009.

Wheaton (12-2, 7-2 NEWMAC) travels to Wellesley College on Wednesday, January 15 at 7 p.m. Babson (5-7, 5-3 NEWMAC) visits MIT on Wednesday at 8 p.m.

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