NEW LONDON, CT - Junior Kayla Drescher (Wallingford, CT/Mark T. Sheehan) and sophomore Keneisha Milton (Boston, MA/Wayland) both approached double-doubles on Tuesday afternoon as the Wheelock College women's basketball team fell at New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) counterpart Mitchell College, 60-34, in the Yarnall Athletic Center. The Wildcats slipped to 3-8 overall and 2-2 in the league, while the Mariners moved alone into first place in the conference at 3-0 while pushing their overall mark to 6-4.
Drescher finished with 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting to go along with eight rebounds, while Milton turned in eight points, 12 boards and a pair of assists. Junior Maya Spratling (Dorchester, MA/Cathedral) added six points, and senior Joy Holliday (Milford, MA/Milford) chipped in with three assists. Wheelock was narrowly outrebounded, 44-38.
Sophomore Kaylee Cerruto (Torrington, CT/Torrington) paced Mitchell with 16 points, while senior Alix O'Neil (New London, CT/New London) tallied 15 points and nine rebounds. Junior Bianca Young (Bridgeport, CT/Kolbe Cathedral) added 13 points.
The hosts opened the game with the first five points by the 16:33 mark of the opening half before Wheelock used a 7-0 run to creep in front. After a Milton free throw put the Wildcats on the board, Holliday assisted three straight hoops, with senior Caitlin Kerr's (Attleboro, MA/Bishop Feehan) jumper knotting the game at 13:49 and Drescher giving the visitors the advantage at 13:10, capping a spurt that took 2:49 to unfold.
Mitchell regrouped with six straight points to grab the lead for good, though Wheelock stayed close for much of the remainder of the half. Spratling's jumper at 10:19 brought her team within 11-9 before the Wildcats erased a larger deficit to twice make it a three-point game, including when Milton hit a pair of freebies at 6:51 to produce a 16-13 result.
After Milton's jumper at 5:30 made it 19-15, the Mariners steadily pulled away, scoring 41 of the game's final 60 points. Wheelock slipped behind by nine points prior to the end of the period, though buckets from Drescher and sophomore Sarah McCaffrey (East Taunton, MA/Taunton) twice created a seven-point margin, before Mitchell led at the half, 35-22.
Milton's early second-half lay-up was followed by two Drescher freebies at 18:36, closing the gap to 37-26, but that was as close at Wheelock would get. Drescher and Holliday combined for the remainder of the Wildcats' points prior to sophomore Taylor Rogers (Essex, MA/Manchester Essex Regional) draining a jumper late in regulation.
Wheelock returns home on Thursday to take on Daniel Webster College at 7 p.m. The Eagles are the defending NECC regular-season champions.