SOUTH HADLEY, Mass.—Junior Erin Young (Westwood, Mass.) scored 20 points and sophomoreBriana Hunt (Newton, Mass.) added a career-high 15 as visiting Babson College cruised to a 65-51 win over Mount Holyoke College in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's basketball action on Saturday afternoon.
With its third straight victory, Babson is now 11-10 overall and 11-6 in the NEWMAC, while Mount Holyoke drops to 5-16 overall and 2-14 in conference play.
Young scored 14 of her season-high 20 points in the first half and went 6-of-9 from three-point range on the afternoon. First-year Giovanna Pickering (Hull, Mass.) added 11 points and six rebounds, while sophomore Linnett Graber (Roseland, N.J.) chipped in with nine points and a game-high five assists.
The Lyons got a game-highs of 21 points and 18 boards from junior Amber Legare (Chicopee, Mass.), who posted her seventh double-double in the last eight games.
Hunt and Young combined for 25 first-half points on 8-of-11 shooting as Babson built a 44-26 halftime lead. The Beavers, who led 19-11 midway through the period, put together a 25-9 run and shot 48.9 percent in the opening 20 minutes. They took their biggest lead of the game at 44-20 with 1:25 left in the stanza.
Trailing 50-31 four and a half minutes into the second half, Mount Holyoke scored used a three-pointer by junior Kate Karraker (Morgantown, W.V.) and three consecutive hoops from Legare to get within 50-40 at the 10:35 mark. Babson responded though, getting a pair of three-pointers from Young and four points each from Hunt and Pickering to key a 15-6 spurt pushed the lead back to 65-46 with 2:16 left to go, putting the game out of reach.
The Green and White shot 41 percent for the game, including an 8-for-17 effort from three-point range, and outscored Mount Holyoke 26-13 off turnovers.
The Lyons, who shot just 39.7 percent, held a 32-20 advantage on points in the paint.
Babson returns to action on Tuesday night when it travels to face nationally-ranked and unbeaten Tufts at 7 p.m. Mount Holyoke will be at Cosat Guard on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
GAME NOTES: The Beavers are now 32-7 all-time against Mount Holyoke and have won 12 straight games against the Lyons going back to 2008…Babson is 9-3 on the season when leading at halftime and 12-3 when scoring 60 points or more…Going back to 2009, the Beavers have won 39 straight games in the month of February…With her six three-point field goals, Young now has 135 trifecta's for her career and is just three behind Joanna Maher '03 for second place on the program's all-time list.