For Immediate Release
December 11, 2009
Wellesley Sports Information
Wellesley Basketball Defeats MIT, 75-47
WELLESLEY, Mass. -- Wellesley basketball celebrated Student-Athlete Appreciation NIght and the last day of classes with a 75-47 win over MIT this evening at Keohane Sports Center. The win lifts the Blue to 3-6 overall, 1-3 in the NEWMAC. MIT drops to 2-7, 0-4 in conference play.
Wellesley opened the game with an 11-4 run, including three-pointers from Malia Maier (Torrance, CA), Robyn Burleson (Seattle, WA), and Katie Martore (Great Falls, VA). The Engineers trimmed the lead with an eight-footer from Aparna Sud (Wellesley, MA). Three minutes later, Sud drained an 18-footer to put the score at 14-8, but another trey from Maier stretched the Blue lead to 17-8 with 12:19 left in the half.
The squads traded buckets over the next few minutes, with Wellesley holding to a 10-point advantage until a layup from MIT's Erica Pino (Jupiter, FL) cut the lead to 22-14. After a bucket from KD Stearns (Eustis, FL), a three-pointer from MIT's Anna Merrifield (Honolulu, HI) trimmed the lead to 24-17. Kristen Whaley (Westborough, Mass) then drained a three-pointer to pull the Engineers to within four points with 4:48 remaining. Wellesley answered with a trey from Martore to push the lead back to seven. A layup from Whaley helped MIT keep pace, but Wellesley used six straight points to take a 33-22 lead with 1:00 left. Whaley grabbed yet another rebound, her fifth of the period, and her putback sent the teams to the locker room at 33-24.
Wellesley opened the second half with five unanswered points from Becca Kimball (Weston, MA) before Stephanie Cooke broke the ice for MIT. Burleson replied with her second three-pointer of the evening, but another layup from Cooke put the score at 41-27.
After the Blue pushed the lead to 48-28, courtesy of Kimball's inside shooting, MIT responded with nine straight, including a jumper from Sud and three-point play from Whaley. Wellesley answered a 10-2 run, including five from Ashleigh Sargent (Bedford, NH), for a 58-39 lead with 7:21 remaining. Pino's layup cut the lead back to 17, but Wellesley followed with another run to push the lead to 66-43, as the Blue cruised to a 75-47 win.
Whaley led the way for MIT, with 15 points and ten rebounds. Sally Simpson (Minneapolis, MN) and Sud added eight points each, while Pino chipped in five.
Kimball led the Blue with 27 points, 20 in the second half, to go along with a team-high 10 rebounds for her first collegiate double-double. Sargent tallied a career-high 12 points, while Martore added 11 points, 7 assists, and 7 steals.
MIT takes the court on January 2 at 1:00pm, when they travel to Simmons for a non-conference match-up. Wellesley returns to action on Wednesday, January 6, at 7:00pm, when they host Smith College.