BABSON PARK, Mass. – Babson College junior Nicki Wurdeman (Rowley, Mass.) scored 17 points and senior Damisi Adewumi (Bronx, N.Y.) added 10 points off the bench as the nationally-ranked Beavers earned a hard-fought 58-31 victory over a tenacious Wellesley College squad in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's basketball contest at Babson's Staake Gymnasium on Tuesday night.
With the win, Babson, ranked seventh in the nation in the D3hoops.com poll, remained unbeaten at 13-0 overall and 7-0 in the conference. Meanwhile, Wellesley suffered its fifth straight loss to fall to 7-6 overall and 4-3 in the NEWMAC.
Wurdeman's game-high 17 came on 7-for-11 shooting from the field and a 3-for-4 clip from the line. The Preseason All-American also grabbed six rebounds before fouling out with just over six minutes left in the game. Sophomore Sarah Collins (Weymouth, Mass.) once again filled the statsheet with nine points, six boards, six assists, seven blocks, and three steals, while junior captain Kathleen King (Framingham, Mass.) pulled down a team-best eight rebounds. The Beavers also received huge minutes off the bench from Adewumi, who finished with 10 points, five rebounds, and two blocks, and junior Kelly McKenna (Shrewsbury, Mass.), who added four points, three caroms, and three assists.
Wellesley was led by first-year Leslie Leong (Sacramento, Calif.), who scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and sophomore Becca Kimball (Weston, Mass.), who added nine points while playing all 40 minutes. First-year Katie Shulenberger (Ashland, Ore.) chipped in with a game-high nine rebounds for the Blue, who grabbed 19 of their 35 boards on the offensive end.
Babson got off to a quick start, scoring 10 unanswered points in the first five minutes to take an early 10-0 lead. Senior captain Becky Bowman (Melrose, Mass.) and sophomore Allanah Wynn (Milton, Mass.) each scored four points during the run, while Collins added two more.
Wellesley refused to quit, embarking on a 7-0 run of its own – five of which came from Leong – to get back to within three at 10-7 with 11:44 left in the first half. The Blue still trailed by as few as four at 14-10 after a Kimball trifecta with 10:23 remaining, but Babson expanded its lead back to double-digits with a 9-1 burst over the next five and a half minutes. Wurdeman scored five of her 11 first-half points during the stretch, which saw the Beavers take a 23-11 advantage with less than five minutes remaining in the period. The hosts would eventually take a 27-14 advantage into the break.
Wellesley would receive a quick jumper from sophomore Ashleigh Sargent (Bedford, N.H.) to cut its deficit to 11 in the opening minute of the second half, but that would be as close as the Blue would get the rest of the way. Despite continuing their strong effort at the defensive end, the visitors struggled from the field, hitting just five of 27 shots (18.5 percent) in the half and only nine of 51 (17.6 percent) in the game. The Beavers would close out the contest with a 13-2 run en route to the 58-31 triumph.