WORCESTER -- MIT's Christina Antonakakis (Holmdel, NJ) connected on a 19-foot jumper as time expired in regulation to force overtime, and then the visiting Engineers outscored WPI 18-14 in a high-scoring extra frame to escape Harrington Auditorium with a 71-67 victory in a NEWMAC women's basketball contest played Saturday afternoon.
MIT improves to 10-5 overall and 1-1 in conference action, while WPI slips to 8-9 on the season and 0-3 in NEWMAC play.
WPI led by 51-46 with under a minute to go in the fourth quarter but MIT was able to knot the game at 51 following a pair of Antonakakis free throws with 41 seconds remaining and after forcing a turnover on the other end, an Angie Choi (Cypress, CA) trifecta with 19.3 seconds left. The hosts then turned to Emmy Allyn (Rutland, MA) and the rookie hit a running layup from right side with 4.1 seconds remaining to put the Crimson and Gray ahead 53-51.
MIT used a timeout to advance the ball to mid court and drew up a play that sent the ball towards but was deflected out of bounds by WPI's Alice Kelly (Wethersfield, CT) in from of the MIT bench with just 1.6 seconds to go. This time the guests drew up a play featuring several screens for Antonakakis, who caught the ball, dribbled right, came back left and launched a shot from just inside the 3-point line that hit the rim, glanced off the backboard, hit the rim again and spun in to forge an extra session.
In overtime, MIT only connected on two baskets compared to WPI's four but Antonakakis and Choi each had six points and were a combined 10-for-10 from the free throw line as the visitors canned all 14 of their attempts from the charity stripe in the extra frame.
Antonakakis led the way for MIT with 22 points and four rebounds while playing all 45 minutes of the contest. Choi had 19 points and four boards as well as five steals and went a perfect 10-of-10 from the line while Elise Harvey (Wayland, MA) dropped 11 points, hauled in six rebounds, and was 7-of-8 from the free throw line. Cambridge's Engineers went a sterling 28-of-30 from the charity stripe and their defensive pressure resulted in 11 steals, converting 20 points off turnovers.
The Crimson and Gray had five players with double digit scoring, as Ava Giansiracusa (Wethersfield, CT), Allyn, Adrianna Niles (Tewksbury, MA) Kelly and Shannon Reno (Millbury, MA) all broke the threshold for WPI with Giansiracusa with 13, Reno with 10 and the other three with 12 apiece. Reno matched her career-best with eight rebounds, playing a career-high 45 minutes of the game. The host recorded four blocks on the afternoon and recorded 14 assists as a team.
Much earlier in the game, MIT got out to an early 6-2 lead, with Kamsi Nwogu (Algonquin, IL) scoring four points, and held a 15-9 lead with under a minute left in the quarter, but consecutive 3-pointers by Ava Giansiracusa (Wethersfield, CT) tied the game up after 10. WPI rode their momentum to open the second quarter with a 13-2 run in which they shot 5-of-8 from the floor, and MIT fell cold and missed nine straight. WPI held the lead and entered the break with a 30-23 lead.
Overall the game featured five lead changes and nine ties. The two teams each shot well from the free throw line (MIT with the aforementioned 93.3% and WPI at 72.7%) but both struggled from behind the 3-point arc with the visitors shooting 3-of-19 (15.8%) and the hosts 5-of-19 (26.3%).
Both teams are on the road next with WPI headed to South Hadley on Wednesday for 7pm NEWMAC affair against Mount Holyoke while MIT steps out of conference Tuesday for a 6pm appointment at Eastern Nazarene.