WORCESTER, Mass. -- A strong first quarter saw the Mount Holyoke College basketball team within a point of Clark University after eight minutes of play and the score at 14-13, but the host Cougars took off from there to register a 100-29 NEWMAC win on Saturday afternoon in Kneller Gymnasium.

Clark (10-12, 1-6 NEWMAC) held Mount Holyoke (2-20, 0-7 NEWMAC) scoreless for over 10 minutes of play, ballooning the lead by 29 points to 43-13 en route to the victory.

First-year guard Alex Twomey (Nutley, N.J.), who leads Mount Holyoke in scoring average, returned to action after a seven-game absence due to injury. Twomey's 3-pointer capped a 13-8 Mount Holyoke run and brought the Lyons within 14-13 with 2:00 left in the first quarter.

A jump shot by junior Isabel Cordes (Yorktown, Va.) started the run, which included 3-pointers by sophomore Marley Berano (Lady Lake, Fla.) and first-year Kendall Maurer (Orinda, Calif.) and a jumper by first-year Taryn White (Alexandria, Va.).

Clark led 43-18 at the half, but the Cougars didn't let up in the third quarter, outscoring Mount Holyoke 28-2 for a 71-20 lead.

Berano led Mount Holyoke in scoring for the fourth straight game, with 10 points, and White led the Lyons in rebounding for the fourth straight outing with seven boards. Twomey finished with four points and five rebounds.

Sarah Zambrano led Clark with 19 points to go with eight rebounds and three steals. Cam Richey passed out 13 assists as Alaina Schatzabel scored 18 points and Julianne Liebow added 16 off the bench.

Mount Holyoke will host MIT next Saturday, Feb. 11, at 2pm.