Babson 62, Worcester State 48
Worcester, MA --- Sophomore teammates Kathleen King (Framingham, MA) and Nicole Wurdeman (Rowley, MA) each notched double-doubles as they combined for 30 points and 15 rebounds to help propel Babson to a 62-48 victory over Worcester State this evening in non conference women's basketball action at the Lancer Gymnasium.
King tallied game best's of 19 points and 13 rebounds while Wurdeman added 11 points with 12 boards. Freshman Sarah Collins (Weymouth, MA) also had a great all-around game with 14 points, 9 caroms and three steals.
Junior Alexis George (Worcester, MA/Holy Name) and first-year Kara Rogers (Lowell, MA) each collected 10 points for the Lancers (3-2) while Kathleen Foley (Hudson, NH) poured in nine points off of three treys.
The Beavers (3-1) dominated the boards as they finished with a 48-25 edge in the rebounding department with a 23-9 advantage coming off the offensive glass. 23 of Babson's 62 points came off of second change points while they also parlayed 24 points off of 26 Lancer miscues. The Beavers also had seven team blocks with four from Wurdeman.
Following three ties and two lead changes over the first 10 minutes of the game, Babson emerged with a two-point cushion as sophomore Michelle Kenel (Rockaway Beach, NY) converted a lay-up for a 19-17 edge. The Beavers then took advantage of several WSC missed shots and seven WSC turnovers to go on a 16-4 run to close out the period as Babson led 35-21 at the break.
Coming out of the locker room the Lancers whittled the lead down to 10 twice in the stanza, but the Beavers maintained double-digits for the first nine minutes of the half. After junior Kristy Benoit (Shrewsbury, MA) gave the visitors their largest lead of the game at 10:52 (49-33), Worcester State got right back into the contest with ten straight points as they held Babson scoreless for the next 2½ minutes to trail by six (49-43).
Babson then went on a 6-0 spurt to bring the lead back up to 11 (55-43) with 4:58 left, but the Lancers wouldn't go away as Foley hit a three-pointer to make the score 56-48 at 3:51. The Beavers then held the Blue and Gold without a basket for the rest of the game as they hit three consecutive lay-up's for the final score.
Babson shot 40.7% for the game (24-for-59) from the field, but they only hit one of their 11 shots from downtown and went 65% from the charity stripe (13-for-20). The Lancers connected for 35.4% from the field, but hit 9 of their 15 shots outside the arc. WSC shot a porous 35.7% from the free throw line (5-for-14).
Worcester State heads to the Purple and Gold Tournament hosted by Williams this weekend and they will face Williams Smith in the opening round at 8 PM on Friday. The Beavers host Wheaton to open NEWMAC play for a 7 PM tip-off on Wednesday.