CHESTNUT HILL, MA - The Wheelock College women's basketball team fell to surging defending New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) regular-season champion Daniel Webster College on Thursday evening at Pine Manor College's Brunelli Court, 85-34. The Wildcats slipped to 3-9 overall and 2-3 in the league, while the Eagles are now 10-2 and 3-0, having extended their school-record winning streak to nine contests.
Senior Joy Holliday (Milford, MA/Milford) netted a team-high eight points for Wheelock, while sophomore Keneisha Milton (Boston, MA/Wayland) had a strong all-around contest, collecting seven points, 10 rebounds, four steals, two blocks and a pair of assists. With 127 boards this winter, Milton is already tied for eighth in program history in season boards. Junior Maya Spratling (Dorchester, MA/Cathedral) added seven points and two blocks, classmate Kayla Drescher (Wallingford, CT/Mark T. Sheehan) notched six points, two steals and two helpers, and sophomore Sarah McCaffrey (East Taunton, MA/Taunton) picked up a pair of steals.
Daniel Webster shot 55.2 percent for the game, assisting 19 of its 32 baskets while notching 15 steals, seven blocks and a 40-26 rebounding advantage. Junior Alycia Gervais (Windham, CT/Windham) paced the visitors with 22 points and 11 rebounds, classmate Vanessa Bosques (North Windham, CT/Windham) totaled 16 points and four blocks, while junior Alyssa Regan (Salem, NH/Salem) shot 7-for-10 en route to 16 points. Junior Sarah Paternostro (Glastonbury, CT/Glastonbury) turned in seven points, six assists and four steals, while classmate Kacie Long (Raymond, NH/Raymond) added five helpers, four steals and a pair of rejections. Freshman Sarah Clark (Marlboro, MA/Marlboro) netted eight points off the bench.
The teams went back and forth during the opening nearly six minutes, each scoring 10 points. Holliday's jumper after 17 seconds gave Wheelock its lone lead of the evening before the hosts forced four ties, with Milton's lay-up following her offensive board making it 10-10 at the 14:11 mark of the first half, the fifth deadlock of the period. From there, Daniel Webster scored the next 13 points during the ensuing 4:06, with Paternostro and Bosques beginning the run by canning three-pointers 11 seconds apart. Gervais tallied the final seven points.
The Wildcats twice drew within 11 points prior to the end of the half, first off a Milton jumper at 9:09 and again on sophomore Kailah Simon's (Norwalk, CT/Norwalk) lay-up with 7:11 left that made the score 25-14. A Regan jumper gave the Eagles their largest first-half lead, 40-18, before the hosts tallied the final four points, with Holliday beating the halftime buzzer off of Milton's inbounds pass. Wheelock held a 17-16 rebounding advantage by intermission, at which point Daniel Webster was shooting 52.9 percent, having knocked down a trio of threes.
Holliday's jumper 20 seconds into the second stanza brought Wheelock within 40-24, but the Eagles shot 58.3 percent from the floor while knocking down 15 free throws during the period, taking a 46-26 lead on a pair of Regan freebies at 16:51 and never again leading by fewer than 20.
Wheelock finishes a two-game homestand on Tuesday against Elms College in a 7 p.m. NECC contest.