Worcester, MA --- Senior Elle Fontaine (Franklin, MA) tossed in 18 points, including the 1000th of her career, and sophomore Cindy Chelius (Northfield, NJ) added a career-best 14 points to help WPI defeat Becker 80-48 in a non-conference women's basketball contest Thursday afternoon.
With the win, WPI is now 6-3 on the season while the Hawks dip to 2-7 overall.
Fontaine reached the 1,000 point milestone on a free throw with 3:38 remaining. It was a fitting way to reach the mark as she is the reigning NEWMAC leader in free throw percentage. Fontaine becomes the 15th player in program history to reach the milestone and the first since Meg Pajonas reached the highlight in 2007.
WPI canned nine of its first 10 shots from the field, including the first seven points of the game by Melissa Kuhn (Stoughton, MA) in the opening 55 seconds of the game. The Crimson and Gray opened up a 20-5 advantage just five minutes in and only saw its lead shrink to single digits one time the rest of the way. WPI shot a sizzling 59.4% from the floor and outrebounded the Hawks 22-11 en route to taking a 44-28 lead into the locker room at the intermission.
Three other Engineers joined the duo of Fontaine and Chelius in double figures in scoring. Lauren Hannmann (East Greenbush, NY) poured 15 points, Kuhn added 11 and Theresa Logan (Southboro, MA) chipped in with 10.
Hannmann corralled 10 rebounds while posting her first career double-double. Fontaine and Logan aided the effort with nine and eight respectively as the Engineers enjoyed an impressive 51-26 edge on the glass. Baillie McNally (Mapleville, RI) and Kuhn shared game-high honors with four assists apiece.
Chelsea Joubert (Westboro, MA) and Kristina Desnoyers (Adams, MA) led the Becker attack with 10 points each while Shaylynn Nazario(Newport, RI) came off the bench to add eight points. Nicole Morse(Alton, NH) anchored the Hawk defensive effort with three blocks and six rebounds to go along with three assists.
The matchup marked the 350th career coaching contest for WPI coach Cherise Galasso. Galasso is now 197-153 (.563) overall which includes an impressive 162-115 (.585) ledger in her 11 years at WPI and a 35-38 mark during a three-year stint at Regis.
WPI is back in action on Sunday, hosting undefeated Middlebury at 3pm in the middle contest of a five-game homestand. Becker is off until a week from Saturday, when it travels to New London, CT for a 1pm NECC matchup at Mitchell.