Daytona Beach, FL --- Melanie Presseau (Manchester, NH) connected on a career-best seven 3-pointers, including all five of her first quarter attempts, on her way to scoring a season-high 25 points as the WPI women's basketball team completed a 2-0 trip to the Florida Sunshine Shootout in Daytona Beach with a 86-37 triumph against Mt. Aloysius (PA) on Thursday afternoon.
WPI held off Mount Aloysius from finding the basket on the first eight possessions, helping WPI score a lead of 6-0. Presseau was perfect from beyond the arc totaling 15 points during just the first quarter of the game. She added on two rebounds and one steal during this quarter to propel the Engineers to a 27-7 lead after 10 minutes of play. Emily Raynowska (Waterboro, ME) joined the opening-quarter action with eight points, four boards and one block.
Allison McMorrow (Quincy, MA) and Victoria Mirecki (Washingtonville, NY) led the team with seven and five points in the second quarter of action as the Mounties attempted a comeback outscoring the Engineers 18-17. China Jenkins (Fort Myers, FL) led Mount Aloysius at halftime with nine points and two steals. Molly Richards (Naples, FL) added six points and an assist.
WPI continued the surge throughout the second half, totaling 38 points and four steals. Presseau led the half with eight points and an assist while Alice Kelly (Wethersfield, CT) added on six points and one block. McKenna Finken (Simsbury, CT) grabbed six boards and five points.
Presseau was the leader for the Engineers, connecting on seven 3-pointers, marking her career high from behind the arc. She totaled 25 points, her season high which trails her career best of 26 this past January in a win against Clark. The graduate guard added one steal, one assist, and three boards on the afternoon. Kelly and Raynowska each added eight points with one and two blocks respectively.
For Mount Aloysius, Jenkins led the team with a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds and nabbed four steals. Karissa Mercier (Freedom, PA) added nine points and two boards while Richards shot 100% to score eight points and one assist.
WPI never trailed the Mounties. The Engineers saw its largest lead of 49 in the fourth quarter and the largest run of 21. The Engineers shot 53.3% and 50.0% from downtown. WPI saw 43 bench points and 22 assists as the Mounties shot 28.3% from the field and 8.3% from 3-point land. Mount Aloysius had four blocks and eight points off turnovers.
The victory pushes the Engineers' winning streak to four and ups their record to 9-2 on the season. The Mounties are now 0-11 overall.
WPI returns to New England to open the 2023 portion of its schedule on Tuesday, venturing to Williams for a 6pm tipoff against the Ephs. Mount Aloysius opens AMCC action on Wednesday, traveling to Erie to face Penn State Behrend at 4pm.