Women's Basketball Finishes Perfect NEWMAC Regular Season With 65-30 Blowout Of Mount Holyoke
BABSON PARK, Mass. - Babson College capped off its first-ever perfect regular season in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play on Saturday, as the Beavers defeated visiting Mount Holyoke College, 65-30, to improve to 22-3 overall and 18-0 in the league. Babson, which extended its overall winning streak to 14 - tied for the second longest in program history, is just the eighth team in conference history to go unbeaten in league play and the first to do so with a conference schedule of 10 or more games.
With the loss, Mound Holyoke finishes the regular season with a record of 8-17 overall and 6-12 in the NEWMAC.
Playing without injured sophomore and leading scorer Nicki Wurdeman (Rowley, Mass.), the Beavers were bolstered by the superb play of first-year Sarah Collins (Weymouth, Mass.), who scored 16 points, grabbed five rebounds, and blocked three shots while shooting 8-for-9 from the field. First-year Allanah Wynn (Quincy, Mass.) added six points and five steals for the Beavers, sophomore Kathleen King (Framingham, Mass.) netted 13 points to go with five rebounds and five steals, and junior Damisi Adewumi (Bronx, N.Y.) tossed in 10 points. Babson also received an outstanding performance from senior tri-captain Sarah Hughes (Wellesley, Mass.), who recorded two points, a team-high eight rebounds, two assists, and one steal in the final regular season game of her collegiate career.
Mount Holyoke was led by sophomore Christine Chancy (Bay Harbor Island, Fla.), who scored 10 points, grabbed six boards, and recorded three steals. Sophomore Tricia Chase (Feeding Hills, Mass.) contributed five points and three caroms, and seniors Jess Olson (Gilbert, Ariz.) and captain Kate Shafir (Newton, Mass.) combined for nine rebounds.
Babson's defense completely dominated the first half of play, holding the Lyons to just 13 points on 5-of-20 shooting while forcing 21 turnovers. King had all five of her steals in the opening session, while Wynn notched four of her five thefts. Offensively, Collins hit all six of her first-half field goal attempts for a game-high 12 points as the Beavers took a commanding 28-13 lead into the break.
The hosts continued to control the game in the second half, starting the period with a 14-1 run to extend its lead to 42-14 with 14:20 remaining. Mount Holyoke would get no closer than 25 the rest of the way as Babson claimed the eventual 65-30 victory.
Having already locked up the regular season title, Babson will now enter this week's NEWMAC Tournament as the top seed, and will host eighth-seeded Coast Guard in the Quarterfinals on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. Mount Holyoke, which also qualified for the tourney, will be seeded seventh and will travel to second-seeded WPI for a Wednesday quarterfinal at a time to be determined.