SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- Wellesley College held Mount Holyoke College to six points in both the first and second quarters, building a 25-12 halftime lead en route to a 48-33 victory in both teams' NEWMAC opener on Saturday afternoon in Mildred S. Howard Gymnasium.
Forward Ava Shane and point guard Trinity Barrow paced the visiting Blue (7-7, 1-0 NEWMAC) to the win, with Shane scoring a game-high 15 points to go with 11 rebounds, two steals and three blocked shots. Barrow added six points, 11 rebounds and six assists, and Stacy Chen contributed 10 points.
Junior Sofia Francisco (Boston, Mass.) led Mount Holyoke (4-11, 0-1 NEWMAC) in scoring with nine points to go with 10 rebounds and five blocks. Senior Taryn White (Alexandria, Va.) scored eight points and senior Alex Twomey (Nutley, N.J.) had six points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
Shane and Chen scored four points apiece in the first quarter as Wellesley built a 10-2 early lead and finished the quarter ahead 12-6. The Blue expanded the lead to 25-12 at the half as five players scored in the second quarter, including four more from Chen and a 3-pointer by Emaleena Elson from off the bench.
The Lyons cut it to 12-8 early in the second quarter and trailed by six with under four minutes left in the half, before Wellesley finished the period with a 9-2 run to lead by as much as 15 (25-10) before Twomey closed out the half with a jumper for the Lyons. Wellesley's most important run of the game started with a three by Elson and included big plays by Chen and Barrow.
Mount Holyoke clawed its way back from a 16-point deficit to make it a 10-point game at 37-27 with a steal and a layup by sophomore Ania McMichael (Glastonbury, Conn.) with 1:26 to go in the third quarter.
Wellesley held off any comeback attempts by Mount Holyoke in the fourth quarter as both teams struggled to score. Francisco had four blocks and four rebounds for the Lyons in the period, but Wellesley held Mount Holyoke to 3-17 shooting in the period to comfortably secure the win.
Wellesley rose to 49-19 all-time against Mount Holyoke; the Lyons last defeated the Blue in 2011.
On Wednesday at 7pm, Mount Holyoke will take on No. 3 nationally ranked Smith in Northampton.
