WORCESTER, Mass.—Senior Dani Davis (East Granby, Conn.) drained a free throw with 0.2 seconds left to lift WPI past visiting Babson, 63-62, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's basketball action on Saturday afternoon at Harrington Auditorium.
With its fourth straight win, WPI is now 6-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play, while Babson drops to 4-2 overall and 1-1 in the NEWMAC.
Davis finished with a team-high 14 points to lead the Engineers, while fellow senior Amaia Gritsko (Milford, Conn.) scored 11 points and pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.
Sophomore Giovanna Pickering (Hull, Mass.) led all scorers with 23 points on 10-of-13 shooting to pace the Beavers. Junior Linnett Graber (Roseland, Mass.) had nine points and eight rebounds, while classmate Marissa Cicchetti (Mansfield, Mass.) chipped in with nine points and a game-high nine rebounds.
The game featured four ties and two lead changes in the final 7:06. The Beavers tied the game at 62 on a pair of free throws from junior Kristen Ferola (Amherst, Mass.) and got the ball back following a WPI turnover with 20 seconds remaining. Engineers' junior Jessica Larsen (Poway, Calif.) drew an offensive foul with 5.7 seconds left, and following a timeout, Davis received the inbounds pass and drove the length of the floor before being fouled on her layup attempt from the left block. She hit the first free throw and then missed the second to seal the win.
After trading hoops over the opening eight minutes, the Engineers used a 13-2 run, sparked by five straight points from Davis to build a 14-point first-half lead. The Green and White got back within 10 late in the stanza after two free throws apiece from Cicchetti and junior Megan Otto(Scituate, Mass.), but junior Haili Welton (Southbury, Conn.) drained a three-pointer just before halftime to give WPI a 36-23 lead at the break.
The Beavers outscored the Engineers 15-6 over the first 4:05 of the second half to get within four on a jumper by Graber. Cicchetti cut the Green and White deficit to 51-48 with a hoop at the 8:07 mark, and Pickering buried a three-pointer on the next possession to tie the game with 7:06 remaining.
Ferola gave Babson its final lead of the afternoon at 53-51, but a Davis free throw cut the margin to one before first-year Stasha Greenalch (Newington, Conn.) knocked down a trey to put WPI back in front 55-53 with 4:53 to go. The Engineers led by as many as four in the final two minutes.
The Beavers shot 46.2 percent (24-of-52) for the game and hled a 34-29 edge on the glass. WPI finished at 45.5 percent (20-of-44) from the field and knocked down 4-of-6 from three-point range.
Babson returns to action on Monday when its hosts Brandeis University at 7 p.m., while WPI takes on Fitchburg State University on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
GAME NOTES: Saturday's loss snapped Babson's 12-game winning streak against WPI going back to 2009…the Beavers, who are 29-21 all-time against the Engineers, had also won their last five games at Harrington Auditorium…Pickering is averaging 23.0 points while shooting 70 percent (28-of-40) over the last three games.