NORTON, Mass. -- The Mount Holyoke College basketball team outscored host Wheaton College after the first quarter, but the opening period proved to be the difference in a 64-45 loss in NEWMAC play Wednesday night.

Wheaton (9-7, 1-1 NEWMAC) scored the first 13 points of the game in the opening three minutes and jumped out to a 25-4 lead at the end of the quarter.

Mount Holyoke (2-14, 0-2 NEWMAC) settled in the second quarter, and the visiting Lyons tied the host Lyons 10-10 in that quarter, leaving Mount Holyoke with a 35-14 deficit at halftime.

Mount Holyoke outscored Wheaton 31-29 in the second half, including a 17-11 difference in the third quarter. Wheaton's lead was cut to 14 (45-31) with 35 seconds left in the third quarter.

Mount Holyoke opened the fourth quarter with a jumper by first-year Eva Taberski (Wynnewood, Pa.), assisted by senior Teal Howle (Florence, S.C.), which started an 8-0 run that made it a seven-point game (46-39) when Howle made a steal and fed first-year Hannah Goen (New London, N.H.) for a layup with 7:40 remaining in the game. Howle also hit a floater and junior Marley Berano (Lady Lake, Fla.) made a pair of free throws in Mount Holyoke's run.

But Wheaton responded with a layup by Abby Fernandes that began a 9-0 run by the hosts, regaining a commanding lead at 55-39 with 5:00 left.

Aniyah Boston scored a game-high 14 points off the bench for Wheaton, while Fernandes scored 13 points and Regan Keyter added 10. Natasha Arnold scored eight points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds, helping Wheaton become just the third team to outrebound Mount Holyoke this season, at 42-36.

Goen scored 10 points for Mount Holyoke, the third straight game in which she has owned or shared the team scoring lead. First-year Emma Goff (Cohasset, Mass.) had nine points and seven rebounds, Berano scored eight points, and Howle tallied eight points, six rebounds and five assists.

The Lyons will play their NEWMAC home opener on Saturday at 1pm against Clark University.