LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The eighth-ranked Babson College women's basketball team took the lead for good with an 11-0 run early in the second half as the Beavers defeated SUNY Oneonta, 61-50, in a non-conference matchup at the Las Vegas Hoopla festival on Tuesday morning. With the victory, the Beavers will enter their holiday break with an unblemished 10-0 record, while SUNY Oneonta suffered its first defeat of 2010-11 to fall to 8-1.
Powering Babson was the duo of juniors Nicki Wurdeman (Rowley, Mass.) and Kathleen King (Framingham, Mass.), who each posted double-doubles in the victory. Wurdeman led all players with 24 points and 14 rebounds, while King tossed in 13 points to go with 13 boards, four assists, and three steals. Sophomore Allanah Wynn (Quincy, Mass.) chipped in with 10 points, senior captain Becky Bowman (Melrose, Mass.) added a team-high five assists, and junior Damisi Adewumi (Bronx, N.Y.) came up huge off the bench with four points and eight rebounds in 26 minutes of action.
Oneonta was paced by Samantha Szkotak, who notched a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Madison Slagle, who netted 18 points while hitting five three-pointers.
The Red Dragons jumped out to an early 14-7 lead and led for the majority of the first half before a Wurdeman three with 49 seconds left tied the score at 26-26 heading into the break. The Beavers were hampered by the loss of sophomore center Sarah Collins (Weymouth, Mass.), who played just five minutes before leaving with an injury.
Despite the loss of their starting center, the Beavers overpowered Oneonta in the second half, thanks to stellar bench play and the dominating presence of Wurdeman and King. After the Red Dragons scored four of the first five points in the period to go up, 31-27, Babson answered with an 11-0 run to move in front for good. King netted the first three points of the spurt with a lay-up and the second of two free throws to make it 31-30, and, after a steal by senior guard Renay Hamilton (Lynn, Mass.), Wurdeman scored to give the Beavers a 32-31 lead with 16:19 left.
King later added another bucket to give her team a three-point cushion, and sophomore Kelsey Olivere (Braintree, Mass.) followed with a lay-up to make it 36-31 with just under 13 minutes remaining. King then capped off the 11-0 run with a jumper at 12:18, giving Babson a 38-31 advantage.
The Beavers would lead by as many as 10 twice in the next 11 minutes, including a 54-44 cushion after a Wurdeman lay-up with 1:09 left in the game. SUNY Oneonta then made one final push when Slagle sandwiched a pair of trifectas around a Wynn free throw, cutting the Red Dragons' deficit to just five, 55-50, with 26 seconds to go. However, Wurdeman, Wynn, and Adewumi each hit two-of-two from the line in the final 24 seconds as the nationally-ranked Beavers held on for the 61-50 victory.