SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. (Jan. 8, 2013) – Wellesley College got double-digit efforts from four players en-route to a 74-43 victory over Mount Holyoke College in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action on Tuesday evening. With the victory, the Blue improve to 4-6 overall and 3-3 in league play. The Lyons, who saw senior Angelica Pascual record the 1,000th point of her career early in the second half, slip to 3-8 and 1-5 in the NEWMAC.
Pascual (Lawrence, Mass./Proctor Academy (N.H.), who recorded a team-high 14 points in the game, put herself into the Mount Holyoke history books at the 18:11 mark of the second half as she became just the 11th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points. The milestone came in her 84th career game, making her the only player to reach that mark in less than 85 contests. Pascual now has 1,005 points.
Wellesley got off to a hot start in the contest, going on a 6-0 run to open the game behind buckets from three different players. The Lyons finally got on the board as sophomore guard Kate Karraker (Morgantown, W.V./Taft School (Conn.) sank a jumper at 17:41.
The Blue continued to roll, taking a 12-point lead with 13:44 remaining, including back-to-back buckets from sophomore forward Morgyne Weaver (Oklahoma City, Okla./Mt. St. Mary). MHC battled back to cut the lead to eight (14-6) on a three-pointer by Pascual, but senior guard Malia Maier (Torrance, Calif./Palos Verdes Estates) nailed a shot of her own from beyond the arc to make it a 17-6 lead for Wellesley.
Maier, who went 5-of-11 from three-point range in the contest, followed up a trey by teammate Natalie Anderson (Bellevue, Wash./Bellevue) to give the Blue its largest lead of the contest at 8:56, going up by 19 points (27-8). Despite the double-digit disadvantage, the Lyons tried to keep it close, pulling to within 11 (33-22) with 3:18 remaining on a jumper by first year Genelle Green (Windsor, Conn./Miss Porter's School).
Senior Ashleigh Sargent (Bedford, N.H./Bishop Brady) went on to nail consecutive buckets late and the Blue took a 37-24 lead into halftime.
Mount Holyoke cut the deficit to nine (37-28) to open the second half as junior Jennine Vizcaino (New York, N.Y./Northfield Mount Hermon (Mass.) and Pascual each sank buckets, but Wellesley was quick to re-set the tone, taking a 20-point lead (50-30) off a trey from Maier with 14:29 left.
The Blue grabbed their largest lead of the contest up to that point with 11:34 on the clock as first year Chelsi Scott (Portland, Mich./Portland) drained a pair of free throws to make it a 57-31 lead. MHC continued to fight, but could not overcome the Wellesley offense, which shot 52.9% from the field for the game.
For the Blue, Maier led all scorers with 16 points. She added a game-best four assists and five steals. Weaver chipped in with 14 points and three assists, while Scott added 12 points, three assists and two steals. Junior Leslie Leong (Sacramento, Calif./John F. Kennedy) rounded out the efforts with 10 points and a game-best six rebounds.
Mount Holyoke was led by Pascual, who also had three assists and a steal in the game. Green and sophomore Amber Legare (Chicopee, Mass./Chicopee Comprehensive) each added six points, while Karraker had a game-best four assists.
The Lyons travel to Worcester to take on WPI on Thursday in a 7pm tilt. Wellesley is back on the court on Thursday as well, traveling to Wheaton for a 7pm clash.
Teammates and head coach Michelle Scecina celebrate the 1,000th point milestone for Pascual (32)
Front and inside photos courtesy of Andy Whitcomb.
