BABSON PARK, Mass.—Senior Giovanna Pickering (Hull, Mass.) finished with 21 points, six steals, five rebounds and three assists to help Babson College defeat visiting Salisbury University, 74-59, in non-conference women's basketball action on Thursday afternoon at Staake Gymnasium.
With its eighth straight win, Babson is now 9-1 on the year, while Salisbury falls to 7-3 overall with its second consecutive loss.
Senior Taylor Russell (Braintree, Mass.) added 11 points and first-year Emily Bonifacic (Allendale, N.J.) scored nine points on 4-of-6 shooting for the Beavers. Junior Brenna LeGacy (Attleboro, Mass.) and sophomore Tea Spellacy (Belchertown, Mass.) both finished with seven points, while senior Jennifer Narlee (Medfield, Mass.) tied for game-high honors with eight rebounds in the victory.
Senior Lauren Rothfeld (Dresher, Pa.) scored 12 points to go along with five assists and four steals to lead the Sea Gulls.
Pickering made her first five shots and Spellacy had five early points to help the Green and White build a 15-12 lead late in the first quarter. Babson, which forced 10 turnovers in the opening stanza, started the second quarter with an 8-1 run to push its advantage to 26-17 on a layup by Russell at the 6:44 mark. Salisbury pulled within four on a three-pointer by sophomore Aprile Preller (Pasadena, Md.) just over two minutes later, but the Beavers closed the frame with an 8-2 spurt to take a 40-29 lead into the locker room.
Rothfeld scored nine of her 12 points in the third quarter to help cut the Sea Gulls deficit to 53-43 with 2:50 left in the period. Bonifacic, who had seven points in the stanza, responded with a layup and Russell followed a Narlee free throw with four straight points to extend Babson's lead back to 60-45 with 1:06 to go in the frame.
Russell opened the fourth with a jumper and Pickering followed her own three-point play and a pull-up jump shot to give the Beavers a 67-50 edge with 8:30 remaining. Salisbury got as close as 14 on a triple by junior Ali Forejt (Mount Airy, N.C.), but sophomore Bianca Tomassini (North Branford, Conn.) beat the shot clock with a jumper and LeGacy went 1-of-2 at the free throw line following a hoop by Bonifacic to give the Green and White its biggest lead of the game at 72-53 with 4:21 left.
Babson shot 45.3 percent (29-of-64) from the floor and outscored Salisbury 38-20 in the paint. The Beavers also finished with a 42-35 edge on the glass and turned 21 Sea Gulls' turnovers into 22 points.
Salisbury shot just 39.7 percent (23-of-58) and finished just 7-of-13 at the free throw line.
Both teams return to action on Friday as Babson hosts UMass Dartmouth at 2 p.m., while the Sea Gulls visit Wellesley at 1 p.m.
GAME NOTES
• Thursday's contest was not only Babson's first against Salisbury, but also its first against a member of the Capital Athletic Conference (CAC).
• The Beavers have now won 12 straight regular season games at home and are 24-4 at Staake Gymnasium going back to the start of the 2014-15 season.
• With a season-high six steals on Thursday, Pickering is just the eighth player in school history to surpass 200 career pilfers.
• Babson is now 8-0 this season and 21-2 over the last two years when forcing 18 or more turnovers.