Wellesley, MA --- Alice Kelly (Wethersfield, CT) posted her second straight double-double and the WPI defense held host Wellesley to 20.7% shooting in the first half as the Engineers went on the road and defeated the Blue 52-41 in a NEWMAC women's basketball contested played Wednesday evening inside the Dorothy Towne Fieldhouse.
WPI sees its record level out at .500 and is now 12-12 overall and 4-6 in conference play. The Crimson and Gray are now in a three-way tie with Salve Regina and Emerson for seventh place in the NEWMAC, a game behind sixth place Clark with just one playdate remaining in the conference schedule. The top eight teams make the NEWMAC Tournament and the Engineers hold the head-to-head tiebreaker with Clark and Emerson.
The Blue, which was playing its final home contest of the 2023-23 campaign, slip to 9-13 on the season and 2-8 on NEWMAC action.
Kelly totaled a season-high 21 points to go along with 11 rebounds for the second double-double of the season and fourth of her career. The senior went nine-for-nine from the charity stripe. Junior Adrianna Niles (Tewksbury, MA.) added 11 points, nine rebounds and four steals. Ava Giansiracusa (Wethersfield, CT) and Sofia Santorelli (Harrison, NY) each added seven points.
Junior Caitlin Windross (Eastvale, CA) paced the Blue with 15 points and nine rebounds while first year Anna Bandini (Raleigh, NC) stuffed three shots.
Wellesley trailed 36-24 at the start of the fourth quarter. The Engineers ran the lead up to 16 at the 7:53 mark before Wellesley mounted an 8-0 run to get the game back to single digits with five and a half minutes left in the game.
The team traded baskets before a Windross three made it 46-41 with 1:49 left to play. Five was as close as the Blue came to tying the contest. WPI capitalized on four made free throws from Giansiracusa to close out a 52-41 victory.
WPI led 9-6 after a defensive first quarter. The Engineers extended its lead to double-digits at 23-12 with under two minutes left in the first half. A late layup from first year Trinity Barrow (Evans, Ga.) made it a nine-point game at the end of one half.
The Blue cut the deficit to seven at 25-18 before WPI embarked on an 11-4 stretch to bring the score to 36-22. Barrow hit a late third quarter layup and the Engineers were up 36-24 after three to set up the fourth quarter comeback effort.
Wellesley went 17-for-53 (32.1%) and limited WPI to 16-of-59 (27.1%) shooting from the floor. The Engineers had a 43-35 edge in rebounds and scored 20 points off of turnovers. WPI went 17-for-18 (94.4%) at the foul line.
WPI closes out the regular season on Saturday and will celebrate Senior Day when they entertain Wheaton at 1pm inside Harrington Auditorium. Wellesley will close out its 2023-24 campaign on Saturday, traveling to nationally-ranked Smith for a 2pm tipoff.
Majority of Release Courtesy Wellesley Sports Information