CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Sophomore Giovanna Pickering (Hull, Mass.) scored a game-high 22 points and the visiting Babson College women's basketball team shot 50 percent from the floor on its way to defeating MIT, 79-56, in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) opener for both teams on Wednesday night at Rockwell Cage.

With the victory, Babson is now 4-1 overall and 1-0 in league play, while MIT drops to 3-3 overall and 0-1 in the NEWMAC.

Pickering scored 13 points before halftime and was 9-of-13 from the floor on the night to go along with three assists for the Beavers, who went 35-of-70 from the floor. Junior Megan Otto(Scituate, Mass.) scored a season-high 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting, classmate Linnett Graber(Roseland, N.J.) added eight points and six rebounds, and fellow junior Marissa Cicchetti(Mansfield, Mass.) contributed eight points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals. Sophomore Taylor Russell (Braintree, Mass.) also chipped in with eight points and five boards off the bench.

Junior Sabrina Drammis (Hilton Head Island, S.C.) recorded her fourth double-double of the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds to go along with four assists to lead the Engineers. Classmate Maya Ramachandran (Fremont, Calif.) went 6-of-11 from the floor and added 13 points and eight boards.

Babson used an 8-0 spurt, which was capped by a Russell three-pointer, to build a 12-5 lead with 13:27 left in the first half, and led by as many as 10 just past the midway point of the stanza. The Green and White got three straight hoops from Pickering as part of another 8-0 run to take its biggest edge of the opening period at 33-22 at the 4:03 mark. MIT countered with eight straight points of its own to get within three on a pair of free throws from senior Mari Kordell (Ijamsville, Md.), but a layup by Graber and a three-pointer from senior Erin Young(Westwood, Mass.) gave the Beavers a 38-30 advantage at the break.

Babson scored on four of its first five possessions after halftime, including six consecutive points from Otto, to build a 47-32 edge with 17:48 remaining in the game. The Engineers got as close as 11 on a Ramachandran layup with 15:28 to go, but the Green and White outscored the hosts 19-7 over the next 7:07 to build 66-43 lead with 8:21 to play.

Young knocked down a trey and Pickering, junior Jess Coelho (Westport, Conn.) and sophomore Ashley Snyder (Foxboro, Mass.) all followed with hoops to put the Beavers in front 56-36. Drammis scored back-to-back buckets for MIT, but a layup by Cicchetti and consecutive baskets by first-year Hannah Metcalf (Middlebury, Conn.) gave Babson its biggest lead of the night at 64-40 with 9:34 left in the game. The Engineers cut their deficit to 17 on two occasions over the final seven minutes but were unable to get any closer.

The Green and White held a 42-33 edge on the glass and enjoyed a 28-2 advantage in bench scoring. The Beavers also outscored MIT 52-28 in the paint and scored 23 points off 22 Engineers' turnovers.

Both teams will return to action on Saturday as Babson visits WPI at 2 p.m., while MIT travels to Mount Holyoke for a 1 p.m. start.

GAME NOTES: Babson is now 48-10 all-time against MIT and has won 12 of the last 13 meetings in the series going back to 2009…the Beavers have now won eight consecutive games when leading at halftime and have won 10 straight contests when shooting 40 percent or better from the floor…Babson has won 40 games in a row when scoring 75 points or more going back to December 20, 2008…the Beavers won their conference opener for the 10th time in 11 years going back to the 2004-05 season.