WELLESLEY, Mass.—Junior Brenna LeGacy (Attleboro, Mass.) scored 20 points and senior Giovanna Pickering (Hull, Mass.) added 15 points and five assists to help visiting Babson College pull away from Wellesley College for an 83-69 win in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's basketball action on Wednesday night at Dorothy Towne Fieldhouse.

With its second consecutive win, Babson is now 17-4 overall and 11-1 in conference play, while Wellesley slips to 8-10 overall and 4-8 in the NEWMAC.

Senior Jennifer Narlee (Medfield, Mass.) scored a season-high 14 points and matched her career high with 18 rebounds, including nine on the offensive end, for the Beavers. Narlee also contributed five assists and two blocked shots, while senior Taylor Russell (Braintree, Mass.) scored nine points and added two steals.

First-year Caitlin Aguirre (El Paso, Texas) finished with a game-high 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting to lead the Blue, which had five players score at least eight points in the loss.

The Green and White emerged from a first half that featured six ties and 18 lead changes with a 45-40 lead at the break, and opened the third quarter with a 9-0 run behind seven points from LeGacy to push its advantage to 54-40 at the 6:38 mark. Wellesley cut its deficit to nine on a three-pointer by first-year Lauren Dines (Tenafly, N.J.) to end the third quarter, but the Beavers responded with a 7-0 run that made it 70-54 on a three-point play by sophomore Raven Brathwaite (Dorchester, Mass.) with 8:08 to go in the fourth.

Aguirre answered with six consecutive points as the Blue got as close as 10 with 5:23 to go, but a three-point play by Pickering and three straight free throws by Narlee extended Babson's lead back to 76-60 just over a minute later.

Both teams started fast as the Beavers shot 71.4 percent in the first quarter, but only led 26-24 as the Blue went 4-of-5 from deep and shot 61.5 percent overall. First-year Keer Sun (Pine Brook, N.J.) scored five straight points to give Wellesley a 36-34 edge early in the second quarter before Babson ripped off a 10-2 spurt behind four points apiece from LeGacy and Narlee to take the lead for good late in the stanza.

The Beavers shot 47.7 percent for the game, outscored the Blue 40-22 in the paint and finished with a 49-30 edge on the glass.

Wellesley shot 40.7 percent overall and finished 8-of-16 from beyond the arc.

Babson returns to action on Saturday when it hosts Clark at 1 p.m., while is off until next Wednesday when it travels to Smith at 7 p.m.

GAME NOTES
•    The Beavers are 49-15 all-time against Wellesley and have won 19 of their last 21 games against the Blue.
•    Babson head coach Judy Blinstrub collected her 598th win on Wednesday night and needs just two more to become the seventh active coach and 14th coach in Division III history to reach 600 for her career.
•    With five assists on Wednesday, Pickering passed Maura Fleming '96 for second place in school history. She is now just nine assists away from tying the program's all-time leader, Michele Cote '94.
•    The Beavers are 11-1 away from home this season and have won 12 consecutive NEWMAC road games going back to last year.