WORCESTER, Mass.—Sophomore Giovanna Pickering (Hull, Mass.) finished with 19 points, a career-high nine steals and six assists, while junior Marissa Cicchetti (Mansfield, Mass.) buried four three-pointers and scored a career-high 17 points as visiting Babson College rolled past Clark University, 83-47, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's basketball action on Saturday afternoon at the Kneller Athletic Center.
With its second straight win, Babson is now 8-5 overall and 4-1 in league play. Clark, which has now dropped six consecutive games, falls to 3-10 overall and 1-4 in the NEWMAC.
Junior Linnett Graber (Roseland, N.J.) added 16 points, seven boards and three assists for the Beavers, who had 13 different players find their way into the scoring column. Despite not scoring, sophomore Jennifer Narlee (Medfield, Mass.) pulled down a team-high nine rebounds to go along with three assists and three steals in the win.
First-year Torienna St. Pierre (Portsmouth, N.H.) scored 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting to lead the Cougars. Sophomore Olivia Lyons (Belmont, Mass.) finished 11 points and nine rebounds, including seven on the offensive end, while junior Sami Dokus (Littleton, Mass.) added eight points and a game-high 13 boards.
The Green and White jumped out to a quick 9-2 lead just 2:32 into the contest, and led by as many as nine on a Pickering layup before Clark ripped off a 14-4 run to take its only lead of the game at 18-17 on a layup by St. Pierre with 8:44 to go in the first half. The Beavers responded with a 16-6 run of their own, getting seven points from Pickering and six from Graber, while holding the Cougars to just two field goals over the final eight minutes of the stanza to build a 33-24 halftime lead.
Cicchetti scored eight points over the first 3:20 of the second half, capping a 10-2 run with a three-pointer to make it 43-26 with 16:40 left in the game. The Cougars would cut their deficit to 14 on a layup by Lyons with 15:15 to play, but the Green and White outscored Clark 34-9 over the next 11-plus minutes to blow the game open.
Graber scored four straight points to give Babson a 53-33 lead, Pickering followed with two free throws and sophomore Taylor Russell (Braintree, Mass.) drilled a trey to make it 60-33 with 10:18 to play. Cougars' sophomore Aretha Sullivan (Worcester, Mass.) stopped the run momentarily with a free throw, but Beavers' senior Erin Young (Westwood, Mass.) knocked down a three-pointer and junior Jess Coelho (Westport, Conn.) added a layup on the next possession to push the margin to 65-34 with just under nine minutes left.
A layup by first-year Brenna LeGacy (Attleboro, Mass.) and two free throws from seniorLindsey Roche (Arlington, Mass.) gave the Green and White a 40-point lead inside the final minute.
Babson shot 40 percent (28-of-70) from the floor and turned 27 Clark turnovers into 35 points. The Beavers, who also held a 26-22 edge in points in the paint, had a 55-49 advantage on the glass.
The Cougars shot just 29.8 percent (17-of-57) from the floor and went just 8-of-21 (38.1 percent) at the free throw line.
Both teams return to action on Tuesday at 7 p.m. as Babson hosts Wellesley, while Clark visits Springfield.
GAME NOTES: Babson has won 12 of the last 13 matchups against Clark and the all-time series is now tied at 22-22…the Beavers are 2-0 this season when scoring at least 80 points and have won 42 straight games when scoring 75 points or more going back to 2008…Babson's 24 offensive rebounds and 19 steals are both season highs…the Beavers are now 8-1 on the year when leading at halftime and are 6-3 when forcing at least 18 turnovers.