WORCESTER -- First-years Emmy Allyn (Rutland, MA) and Ava Giansiracusa (Wethersfield, CT) combined for 36 points to lift the WPI women's basketball team to an impressive 67-40 non-conference road triumph at UMass Boston on Thursday evening at the Clark Center.
With the victory, the Engineers up their record to 3-1 overall while the host Beacons are now 0-3 and still in search of their first win of the season.
WPI trailed 17-16 after the first quarter and were behind by three at 24-21 midway through the second stanza before Allyn, Giansiracusa and Adrianna Niles (Tewksbury, MA) accounted for all of the visitors 11 points during a 11-2 spurt over the final 4:49 of the second quarter that saw the Crimson and Gray take a 32-26 lead into the locker room at the break.
After the Beacons tallied the first four points of the third quarter to slice the Engineers edge to just two points, WPI kept the hosts off the scoreboard for nearly six minutes and responded with an 11-0 spurt of its own and never saw its advantage shrink to single digits the rest of the way.
Allyn and Giansiracusa each established new career-high with 20 and 16 points respectively. Allyn netted 16 first half points and had her all 20 of her points in the first three quarters, connecting on 8-of-14 shots from the floor, including a pair of 3-pointers. Giansiracusa was very efficient, canning 5-of-7 field goals and 5-of-6 from the free throw line to go along with four rebounds.
Niles flirted with a double-double, tallying 10 points and corralling nine rebounds while Alice Kelly (Wethersfield, CT) also reached double figures in scoring with 10 points. Both players set new career-bests with five assists while Kelly chipped in with four boards and a pair of steals. Point guard Shannon Reno (Millbury, MA) also had a strong game, registering seven points, five rebounds and three assists while leading all players with 39 minutes played.
Alexah Potter (Manchester, CT) collected 12 points for the hosts and was joined in double digits by Keriann Farina (Arlington, MA), who tossed in 10 points. Paige Ollivierre (Newton, MA) was a bright spot off the bench for Beacons, finishing with eight points on 3-of-4 shooting on the night, including draining both of her attempts from downtown.
The Engineers ended the game shooting 52.1% from the field and committing just 10 turnovers. The guests outrebounded the Beacons 32-19 and held the hosts to just two second chance points on the night.
Both teams are back on the court on Saturday afternoon. WPI wraps up a quick two-game road trip venturing to Nashua, NH to face Rivier in a 2pm tilt. UMass Boston meanwhile will play the middle contest of a three-game homestand, entertaining Fitchburg State in a 1pm affair.