WORCESTER – Babson junior Emily Bonifacic (Allendale, NJ) narrowly missed a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds in a 67-44 win over host WPI on the final day of the NEWMAC women's basketball regular season Saturday in Harrington Auditorium.
The Beavers (21-4, 14-2) head into the conference tournament as the regular season champion and sixth in the NCAA regional rankings. WPI (10-14, 5-11) closes out its campaign after narrowly missing out on a berth to the postseason. Official pairings are slated to be released later tonight or Sunday morning.
WPI's Alyssa Paul (Schaghticoke, NY), Daly Place (Wayland, MA), Synella Gonzales (Glen Cove, NY) and Elizabeth Quevillon, as well as Babson's seniors were honored prior to the contest.
Junior Katherine Tamulionis Foxboro, MA) paced everyone with 10 points as sophomore Katie Jones Ridgewood, NJ) and senior Téa Spellacy Belchertown, MA) each chipped in with eight for Babson. Senior Payton Ouimette (Medfield, MA) also scored eight points to go with nine rebounds.
Paul totaled a team-best nine points, followed by junior Spencer Vinson (Los Angeles, CA) and freshman Victoria Mirecki (Rock Tavern, NY) with eight apiece. Vinson guided the Crimson and Gray with six boards while freshman Bailey Savage (Charlton, MA) handed out four assists and recorded a pair of steals.
The Engineers held the early lead before Ouimette and senior Elizabeth Lane (Skaneateles, NY) teamed up to nab the two-point lead for Babson nearly two minutes into the contest. Babson pushed its advantage to seven only to see freshman Melanie Presseau (Manchester, NH) can back-to-back triples to cut the margin to one. Babson junior Jacqueline Jozefick (Milford, CT) then used a personal 4-0 run to make it a five-point game at the end of the first. Babson continued to pull away in the second, building a 16-point dam late in the second.
Babson maintained at least a 16-point margin the rest of the way with a high watermark of 25 with 3:05 to play. WPI trimmed a 24-point difference to 19 early in the third behind a triple by Paul and a layup by Mirecki.
The Crimson and Gray outscored the Beavers 10-4 in the paint while the guests held slim advantages off turnovers (6-2), in second chance points (2-0) and fast break (2-0) points.