WORCESTER -- Backed by a career-high 22 points from senior Ally McMorrow (Quincy, MA), the Engineers women's basketball team opened the WPI Holiday Classic with a lopsided victory over visiting William Smith on Friday evening at Harrington Auditorium. The Crimson and Gray improve to 6-4 overall, while William Smith dips to 1-8.
WPI continues the tournament action tomorrow against RIT at 3pm, while William Smith meets Franklin & Marshall in the 1pm match-up.
McMorrow scored 20 of her 22 points in the first half, shooting 71.3% (10-14). She added five rebounds, three steals, and a pair of assists. Adrianna Niles (Tewksbury, MA) notched 13 points with five rebounds and three assists, while Emmy Allyn (Rutland, MA) had nine points. Shannon Reno (Millbury, MA) notched game-highs of seven rebounds and six assists.
For William Smith, Brooke Jarvis (Baldwinsville, NY) led the team with 10 points, adding five rebounds. Miranda Martin (Golden Bridge, NY) had nine points and a team-high seven rebounds, while Leia Brunt (Plymouth, NH) notched seven points. Mara Bledsoe (Davis, CA) finished with six points and a pair of steals.
The Engineers got off to a hot start, scoring the first six points of the first quarter before William Smith closed the gap 12-9 on a Martin jumper. WPI answered with four straight buckets building a 20-9 advantage with 2:02 to play. The Herons scored the only points of the final two minutes of the frame, with a Kelly pull-up jumper closing the Engineers' lead 20-11.
Allison Fullem (Underhill, VT) opened the second frame with a lay-up for WPI before back-to-back buckets from the Herons made it a seven-point game (22-15). From there, 15 unanswered points from the Engineers ballooned the lead to 37-15, as McMorrow scored eight points during the stretch. Over the next two and a half minutes, the Herons slightly closed the gap, but WPI ended the quarter with an Allyn three to lead 47-21 at the half.
The Engineers' offense continued to roll at the start of the third quarter, as a 9-2 early run put the hosts up 56-23 with 4:44 on the clock. William Smith countered with a 15-4 run to cut the deficit to 60-38 before a Kelly three pushed the lead back to 25 points (63-38) at the end of three quarters.
In the fourth quarter, William Smith whittled the lead down to 20 (63-43) with a 5-0 opening run. However, the WPI defense kept the Herons off the board the rest of the way, as the Engineers closed out the 73-43 win with a 10-surge down the stretch.
Second Half Surge Pushes Franklin & Marshall to Win Over RIT in WPI Women's Basketball Holiday Classic
WORCESTER -- Franklin & Marshall used a strong second half to post a comfortable 76-56 victory over RIT in the second game of the WPI Holiday Classic.
The Diplomats led 20-8 after one, but that lead evaporated with RIT outscoring them 23-10 in the second quarer to lead by one (31-30) at the half. However, Franklin & Marshall used a 23-11 third-quarter advantage and a 23-14 fourth-quarter edge to finish out the 20-point win.
For the game, Franklin & Marshall shot 56.1 (32-57) from the field and 44% (4-9) from three, holding the Tigers to 42% (21-50).
Franklin & Marshall's Ally Trebelev (Media, PA) and Jaclyn Felt (Charlotte, NC) tied for game and team-high honors with 18 points each, while Felt pulled down a team-best six rebounds. Lizzie Neville (Waverly, PA) added 10 points in the win. For RIT, Faye Kaplinkski (Simsbury, CT) and Ella Wilson (Millbrook, NY) each posted 14 points and seven rebounds to lead the Tigers.