WORCESTER -- The Wethersfield, Connecticut combination of Ava Giansiracusa and Alice Kelly both reached double figures in scoring and the WPI women's basketball held visiting Clark to just two baskets in the opening 20 minutes of play as the Engineers knocked off the Cougars 52-39 to pick up key NEWMAC victory on Wednesday evening inside Harrington Auditorium. The victory avenges an earlier season loss to Clark in the championship game of the Worcester City Tournament.
WPI evens its mark at .500 and is now 10-10 on the season and 2-4 in conference play. Clark, which began the night in a five-way tie for first place in the league, dips to 14-6 overall and 4-2 in NEWMAC action.
The host raced out to an 8-1 lead including a six-point burst from Kelly as the senior also corralled four first quarter rebounds. Clark did not hit a field goal for the opening 6:18 of the contest, going 0-for-3 from the field with three turnovers to start but used six free throws to stay within reach but still trailed 13-8 after the opening 10 minutes.
The WPI defense was an even bigger factor the second frame, forcing the Cougars to misfire on their first 12 shots from the field goal over the first 8:19 of the second quarter until Kumi Tamura (Whittier, CA) drained a jumper. The WPI offense also had a slow quarter as they only outscored the guests 7-3 in the second, but Giansiracusa nailed a 3-pointer to account for the Engineers only bucket of the stanza as the host lead 20-11 at halftime. The WPI defense limited Clark to 2-of-23 shooting from the floor in the first half, including 0-5 from downtown and the Cougars were only 7-of-15 from the free throw line during the first 20 minutes.
The two offenses got into more of a flow in the third quarter with WPI outscoring Clark 17-10 in the session, running its lead to as much as 20 at 39-19 in the waning seconds. The guests used an 18-point fourth quarter to claw back to within nine at 48-39 on a Tamura trifecta with 1:15 to go but Giansiracusa and Adrianna Niles (Tewksbury, MA) each nailed two free throws in the final 46 seconds to salt the game away.
Giansiracusa led all scorers with 15 points and stuffed the stat sheets with five rebounds and four assists. Kelly finished with 10 points and a career-high-equaling 12 rebounds while Niles amassed nine points and Ally McMorrow (Quincy, MA) tallied seven to go along with three assists and a pair of blocks.
Jacqueline Faulise (North Kingstown, RI) notched 10 points and grabbed seven boards for the Cougars while Tamura netted seven points and Olivia Shipley (Winchendon, MA) was credited with two blocks.
WPI shot 36.2% (17-of-47) from the field on the night while holding Clark to just 22.2% (12-for-54) shooting overall and 12.5% (2-for-16) from downtown.
Both teams hit the road Saturday for the NEWMAC contests on Saturday. WPI ventures to Springfield for a 3pm tipoff against the Pride while Clark heads to Northampton to face No. 21 Smith at 2pm.