WORCESTER – Priscilla Dunphy (Barrington, RI) amassed a career-best 18 points to propel the WPI women's basketball team to its 16th straight victory as the hosts defeated visiting MIT 54-35 in a NEWMAC women's basketball contest played on Saturday evening. 

WPI, who is receiving votes in the most recent D3hoops.com, moves to 18-1 overall and a perfect 10-0 in conference play.  The hosts equal the school record held by the 1982-83 squad for consecutive wins with 16 and have swept the season series with Cambridge's Engineers. MIT slips to 13-6 overall and 8-3 in NEWMAC play. 

MIT led 8-7 after the opening quarter but was limited to 27 points the rest of the way.  The WPI defense, second nationwide in points allowed per game,  limited the guests to just 26.5% shooting for the floor and forced 15 turnovers on the night.  Trailing 15-14 with 3:43 to go before intermission, the hosts got baskets from four different players including Maura Buckley (Melrose, MA), Stasha Greenalch (Newington, CT), Madison Beck (Syracuse, NY) and Yasmeen Luna (North Providence, RI) to score the final eight points of the stanza and took a 22-15 lead into the locker room at the break. 

The advantage ballooned to double figures a 36-24 following a 3-pointer from Beck in the last minute of the third quarter and did not dip into single digits throughout the fourth quarter. 

Dunphy was the only player on either team to reach double figures in scoring.  The junior drained 8-of-11 shots from the field, grabbed six rebounds and shared game-high honors with four assists.  The combination of Beck and Buckley paced a 22-13 WPI advantage in bench points with seven apiece while Luna and Jessica Larsen (Poway, CA) chipped in with six points each. Greenalch and Ama Biney (Worcester, MA) registered nine and eight rebounds respectively as the hosts held a 41-32 edge on the glass. 

Kara Holinski (Livonia, MI) poured in a team-best nine points for MIT, including two of the guest's 3-pointers in the contest.  Taylor V'Dovec (Blaine, WA) came off the bench to contribute seven points and eight boards while Sabrina Drammis (Hilton Head Island, SC) and Sophie Gershon (New York, NY) both added six points. Drammis totaled nine boards and three steals and Liana Ilutzi (East Hanover, NJ) doled out four assists for the guests. 

WPI is back on the road Wednesday, traveling to Northampton to face Smith at 7pm.  MIT completes a two-game road trip Wednesday with a 7pm tip at Wellesley.