SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- Mount Holyoke College played one of its better and more intense games this season, but visiting Wheaton College shot the ball with much greater accuracy, as the visiting Lyons topped the host Lyons 62-36 in a NEWMAC game Wednesday night in Howard Gymnasium.
Wheaton finished its regular season with a 13-12 overall record and 3-7 in NEWMAC play. Wheaton remains in contention to play in the NEWMAC playoffs next week, pending this weekend's results.
Mount Holyoke (2-22, 0-9 NEWMAC) has one game remaining in the season, at Springfield on Saturday at 1pm.
Kiki Walters led the visiting Lyons with 15 points, six rebounds, and four steals. Madeline Duwe scored 13 and Abby Fernandes added 11 points with six rebounds and four assists.
Wheaton made 25-of-56 shots from the field (.446), including 9-21 from deep (.429), which served as the primary statistical difference between the teams. Mount Holyoke was limited to 13-58 shooting from the field (.224), and 1-18 from behind the arc (.056). Wheaton had slight advantages in rebounding (39-36) and turnovers (18-16).
Sophomore Marley Berano (Lady Lake, Fla.) led Mount Holyoke with 13 points and two assists, while first-year Taryn White (Alexandria, Va.) added nine points and a game-high eight rebounds.
Wheaton led 8-2 and 16-9 in the first quarter, but Mount Holyoke stuck around. After a timeout, the hosts got hoops from first-year Alex Twomey (Nutley, N.J.) and Berano to make it 16-13. A steal and a layup by Walters gave Wheaton an 18-13 lead after one period, with Walters providing nine points and Duwe adding seven in the period.
Berano kept Mount Holyoke in the game with eight points in the second quarter, but Wheaton expanded its lead to 36-23 at the break, with Walters, Duwe and Fernandes shooting a combined 3-4 from deep in the quarter.
Wheaton opened the second half with four straight defensive stops, to go with a three by Duwe and a layup by Fernandes to expand the lead to 41-23.
An offensive putback by Maddie Mueller with 3:42 to go in the third started an 11-3 Wheaton run to finish the period and give the visitors a commanding 54-30 lead with one quarter to go. Mueller had four points, two rebounds and an assist in the run.
Wheaton went cold in the fourth quarter, shooting 3-15 (.200), but added two points to its final margin of victory against a similarly cold-shooting host side (2-9, .222).
