CAMBRIDGE, MA - Junior Kayla Drescher (Wallingford, CT/Mark T. Sheehan) and sophomore Keneisha Milton (Boston, MA/Wayland) combined for 31 rebounds, eight steals and six blocks on Tuesday during the Wheelock College women's basketball team's 54-36 loss to second-place Lesley University at Buckingham Browne & Nichols' Nicholas Athletic Center. The Wildcats, now 4-17 overall and 3-11 in the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC), were eliminated from postseason contention with the defeat. The Lynx moved to 13-10 and 12-3.

Thanks to her 11th double-double of the season, Milton broke her own single-season rebounding mark behind 11 points, 16 rebounds, five steals and two rejections. She now has 241 boards for the winter and 468 for her career, good for second in Wheelock annals. Drescher added eight points, a career-high-tying 15 caroms, four blocks, three assists and three steals, swatting at least four shots for the third time in five games.

Senior Kaitlyn Wechsler (Merrick, NY/Our Lady of Mercy Academy) paced Lesley with 18 points, classmate Brianne Caira (Pelham, NH/Pelham) had 16 points, eight rebounds, six blocks and five assists, and senior Rachael O'Mara (Levittown, NY/General Douglas MacArthur) turned in 12 points and five helpers.

The teams exchanged the lead seven times in the opening stanza while playing through four ties. Wildcat senior Caitlin Kerr (Attleboro, MA/Bishop Feehan) canned a three-pointer to open the scoring before Lesley countered with 12 of the next 14 points, grabbing a seven-point advantage at 15:08. However, five straight Wheelock points forced a two-point margin, and two Milton buckets 21 seconds apart later knotted the contest at 14 by 11:08.

O'Mara hit one ensuing freebie to give her squad an edge, but junior Maya Spratling (Dorchester, MA/Cathedral) dropped in a lay-up to put the visitors in front, 16-15. A Wechsler hoop was then met by junior Jo Gomes' (Boston, MA/Newton Country Day School) bucket at 8:20, and Drescher provided a basket with 5:33 remaining to give Wheelock a 20-18 advantage. However, Lesley finished the half on a 12-0 run, taking a 30-20 lead into the locker room.

Senior Joy Holliday (Milford, MA/Milford) drained a three 1:36 into the second half to bring the Wildcats within 30-23, but the Lynx scored 18 of the next 23 points to forge ahead by 20 with 7:20 remaining. Freshman Jessica Ramsey (Milford, MA/Hopedale) drilled a trey of her own with 1:14 left to create the final margin. Wheelock yielded only 24 points during the second stanza, holding Lesley to its lowest single-half point total since collecting 21 versus the Wildcats in the last period on Jan. 25, eight games ago.

Wheelock begins a two-game home-and-home series with Elms College on Thursday when it hosts the Blazers at 8 p.m.