WELLESLEY, Mass.—Junior Natalie Anderson (Bellevue, Wash.) had 10 points and seniors Leslie Leong (Sacramento, Calif.) and Katie Shulenberger (Ashland, Ore.) each chipped in with nine as Wellesley College defeated visiting Babson College, 55-45, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's basketball action on Wednesday night.

With the win, first-place Wellesley is now 14-3 overall and 11-2 in the NEWMAC, while Babson drops to 8-10 overall and 8-6 in conference play.

Sophomore Linnett Graber (Roseland, N.J.) led the Beavers with 12 points and five rebounds. Classmates Jess Coelho (Westport, Conn.) and Megan Otto (Scituate, Mass.) each had eight points.

Junior Morgyne Weaver (Oklahoma City, Okla.) scored seven points and pulled down a game-high nine rebounds for the Blue, while sophomore Chelsi Scott (Portland, Mich.) chipped with seven points and was 5-for-7 from the free throw line.

Wellesley opened the game with a 7-4 run, sparked by an Anderson trey on the Blue's first possession. Babson stayed close, tying the game at 7-7 on a traditional three-point play from first-year Giovanna Pickering (Hull, Mass.) at the 15:29 mark. The Blue surged again, capitalizing on stingy defense and a Leong three for a 14-9 advantage midway through the period.

Babson junior Erin Young (Westwood, Mass.) stopped the run with a three-pointer, and Otto followed with two free throws to tie the score at 14-14. But Wellesley seized control again, using three defensive stops and three-pointers from Leong and Bianchi to open a 22-16 gap with 6:40 left in the half.

Beavers' first-year Taylor Russell (Braintree, Mass.) slowed Wellesley's momentum with a layup at the 5:23 mark, cutting the lead to 22-18. After trading free throws, both squads hit short jumpers in the final minute, giving the Blue a 25-21 edge at the break.

The teams traded buckets to open the second period, until two Leong free throws built a 32-26 advantage for the Blue at the 14:45 mark. Anderson followed with a fall-away jumper on the next possession to give the hosts their largest lead to that point, at 34-26.

Coelho kept pace for Babson with two layups, but Wellesley's Anderson drained a trey to maintain 39-30 advantage with 11:42 left. Coelho responded with two more points, but another three-pointer from the Blue, this time from Bianchi, stretched the lead to ten, at 42-32.

Both teams stalled midway through the period, until the Beavers used consecutive layups from Graber and Otto cut the lead to 44-38 with 6:15 remaining. Two minutes later Graber followed with a trey to put the score at 45-41, but Weaver answered for Wellesley with an old-school three-point play to maintain a seven-point gap. The Blue's Scott followed shortly with a layup to put the score at 50-41 with 2:50 left.

Babson kept fighting, narrowing the gap to seven with two free throws from Pickering at the 1:59 mark. However, Wellesley's Scott tallied four straight points from the line, giving the Blue a 54-43 lead with just under a minute remaining, en route to the 55-45 win.

The Green and White shot just 32.7 percent (17-for-52) on the night while Wellesley finished at 37.8 percent (17-for45) and was 7-of-13 from three-point range. The Beavers held a 24-10 advantage in paint points, and scored 24 points off 13 offensive rebounds.

Both teams to return to action on Saturday as Babson travels to WPI at 1 p.m. while Wellesley is at Smith for a 2 p.m. tipoff.

GAME NOTES: Babson is now 43-15 all-time against Wellesley but have dropped two straight games in the series on the heels of a 13-game winning streak over the Blue…The Beavers had won five straight games at Wellesley going back to 2009…Babson's three-game road losing streak is its first since the 2008-09 season.