Worcester, MA --- Kathleen King (Framingham, MA) led all players with 28 points and 11 rebounds to pace nationally-ranked Babson to a 84-42 road victory over WPI on Wednesday evening in the NEWMAC conference opener for both squads.
The Beavers, ranked No. 17 in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25, move to 4-1 on the season while WPI is now 2-4. Babson, who has reached the quarterfinals of the last two NCAA Tournaments, has now won 46 straight games versus conference opponents and 54 of its last 57 games overall.
After Kelly Morgan (Brookline, NH) buried a layup for WPI to tie the game at 2, the Beavers embarked upon a 14-0 run over the next 7:29 to push the advantage to 16-2 and would not see their advantage shrink to single digits for the rest of the night. King tallied eight points during the spurt that saw the visitor's defense force WPI to miss 10 straight field goals attempts while forcing four turnovers.
King canned 11-of-13 shots from the field and nailed all six of her free throw attempts. King and her starting frontcourt mates of Sarah Collins (Weymouth, MA) and Nicki Wuredman (Rowley, MA) shot a sizzling 75% from the floor (21-for-28). Collins ended with 12 points while Wuredman chipped in with 10. The trio combined for 24 rebounds and nine assists on the night.
Allanah Wynn (Quincy, MA) aided the Beaver effort with a game-best six assists while Erin Young (Westford, MA) and Liz Trainor (Beverly, MA) registered 10 and nine points respectively. As a team, Babson shot at eye-popping 61.8% for the game.
Lauren Hannmann (East Greenbush, NY) sported game-high scoring honors for WPI with 12 points. The senior co-captain drained a trio of 3-pointers on the night. Siena Mamayek (Melrose, MA) netted eight points for the Engineers while Taryn Roy (Stafford Springs, CT) recorded career-highs of seven points and five rebounds and Cynthia Chelius (Northfield, NJ) added six points.
Both teams return to the court with 1pm NEWMAC road contests on Saturday afternoon. WPI heads to Cambridge to face MIT while Babson ventures to South Hadley to take on Mount Holyoke.