SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- Ava Hyams led WPI with 22 points and nine rebounds as the visiting Engineers defeated the Mount Holyoke basketball team 60-49 on Wednesday night, in the closest contest between the NEWMAC rivals since 2015.
WPI (12-8, 3-3 NEWMAC) took a 21-9 lead after a quarter and went ahead by as many as 19 points en route to the win. The Engineers shot .442 (19-43) from the field while the host Lyons shot .333 (16-48).
Mount Holyoke (4-16, 0-6 NEWMAC) continued to show marked improvement despite the loss. The Lyons outscored the Engineers 40-39 over the final three quarters of the game, and the final score represented the closest MHC-WPI game since a 51-47 WPI win in 2015. In the 11 games between that contest and Wednesday night's game, the Engineers outscored the Lyons by an average of 39.6 points.
Senior Taryn White (Alexandria, Va.) had 11 points and nine rebounds for Mount Holyoke, while junior Sofia Francisco (Boston, Mass.) and sophomore Ania McMichael (Glastonbury, Conn.) added 10 points apiece. First-year Justine Dessureault (Trois-Rivieres, Quebec) pitched in with seven points and seven rebounds.
Hyams shot 7-10 from the field and 7-7 from the foul line to pace the Engineers. Ava Giansiracusa added 13 points, Emmy Allyn collected eight points and eight rebounds, and Megan Stone had seven points and five assists for the visitors.
Hyams sank a jumper on WPI's first shot of the night, and followed with a 3-pointer on her next attempt for a 5-2 lead.
After a 3-pointer by McMichael closed the Lyons within 8-7 with 5:47 to play, WPI outscored Mount Holyoke 13-2 to finish the period with a 21-9 lead. WPI continued with the upper hand for the first 5:00 of the second quarter, assuming a 34-15 lead on a putback by Giansiracusa.
Mount Holyoke responded with a 10-0 run to finish the half, however, to cut the deficit to single digits (34-25) at intermission. McMichael bookended the run with two points on each end, and Dessureault also scored four points in the Lyons run.
A strong third quarter by WPI saw the Engineers again build their lead to as many as 19 points, on a layup by Hyams with 2:01 left in the period.
But the Lyons held the Engineers scoreless for more than six minutes of action as they once again clawed their way back into a single-digit game. A 3-pointer by Francisco made it 51-42 with 4:18 to go in the game. Senior Alex Twomey (Nutley, N.J.) hit all three free throws on a 3-point shooting foul to make it 53-45 with 3:39 to go. A pair of free throws by White again made it an eight-point game, and a three-point attempt by Twomey that would have closed the gap to five rattled out with 2:21 to go.
Mount Holyoke next plays at MIT Saturday at 1pm; WPI will play at Salve Regina Saturday at 2pm.
