CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Senior Payton Ouimette (Medfield, Mass.) finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds and visiting Babson College built a 17-point third-quarter lead on its way to defeating MIT, 76-71, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's basketball action on Wednesday night inside Rockwell Cage.

With its second straight win, Babson improves to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in league play, while MIT slips to 3-3 overall and 0-1 in the NEWMAC with its third consecutive loss.

Junior Katherine Tamulionis (Foxboro, Mass.) scored 15 points, senior Téa Spellacy (Belchertown, Mass.) had 12 points, and classmate Elizabeth Lane (Skaneateles, N.Y.) added eight points and a game-high seven assists for the Beavers. Junior Jacqueline Jozefick (Milford, Conn.) also came off the bench to contribute seven points and six boards in the victory.

Senior Taylor V'Dovec (Blaine, Wash.) scored 14 of her team-high 16 points in the second half to lead the Engineers. Sophomore Jocelyn Luizzi (Colchester, Conn.) finished with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting, while classmate Kylie Gallagher (Upton, Mass.) chipped in with 12 points and eight rebounds in the loss.

The Green and White trailed by as many five in the early going before embarking on an 18-0 run to seize control of the game. Lane and junior Emily Bonifacic (Allendale, N.J.) combined to score the final six points of the first quarter, Jozefick opened the second with a jumper, and Ouimette scored five straight points to make it 25-16. Spellacy and Tamulionis followed with layups on back-to-back trips to extend the Beavers' lead to 14 with 5:38 to go in the stanza.

Babson, which got 11 points from Ouimette, shot 55.6 percent in the frame and took a 41-27 edge into the locker thanks to a late three-pointer by Jozefick.

The Beavers opened the second half by scoring on five of their first even possessions to push the lead to 52-35 with 5:48 to go in the third. MIT pulled within 11 on a three-pointer by V'Dovec less than a minute into the fourth quarter, but Ouimette sandwiched a pair of hoops around a bucket from Lane to stretch the visitors advantage back to 65-50 with 7:12 remaining in the contest.

The Green and White made just one field goal over the next six minutes and had its lead trimmed to 67-63 following back-to-back triples by senior Dolly Yuan (San Jose, Calif.) and Luizzi with 2:18 to go. Spellacy broke the cold spell with a layup at the 1:17 mark, Ouimette answered another hoop by Luizzi and Tamulionis drained four straight free throws over the final 29 seconds to put the game out of reach.

The Beavers shot a season-best 48.4 percent from the floor and finished with a 37-28 advantage on the glass and a 44-34 edge in paint scoring.

Both teams return to action on Saturday as Babson hosts Smith at 12 p.m., while MIT takes on Clark at 1 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are now 53-11 all-time against MIT and has won three straight games in the series, all of which have been decided by seven points or less.
• Babson has now won its conference opener in 14 of the last 15 seasons.
• The Beavers have now won 17 of their last 18 NEWMAC road games dating back to January 20, 2016.
• Ouimette has recorded three double-doubles in three starts this season and has 20 career double-doubles in 30 games at Babson.