Box Score NORTHAMPTON, Mass.--Smith College shot 60% in the first half to take an early lead, then staved off a comeback by Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a 55-51 NEWMAC win on Wednesday night. 

Smith won in their first game back from the holiday break to improve to 9-2 overall, and 4-1 in NEWMAC play.  MIT had a four game winning streak snapped and falls to 7-4 and 3-2 in conference play. 

With the game tied at five in the first half, Smith opened up an 18-9 lead over the next five minutes.  Sydney Parkmond (Waterbury, Conn./Chase Collegiate) put back a miss by Paulina Solis (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill) to break the tie, then fed Ellie Giles (Charlottesville, Va./St. Annes Belfield) for a short jumper on the Pioneers' next possession.  Another Parkmond layup followed by a three pointer from Rosa Drummond (Rye, N.H./Portsmouth) opened up a nine point advantage for Smith with 10:52 to play.

A layup from Lizzy BelBruno (Hanover, N.H./Hanover) at the 9:00 mark gave Smith their biggest lead of the half at 24-13, but the Engineers chipped away, cutting the margin to five points on three pointers from Sharon Hao and Margo Batie with 7:08 to play.  A BelBruno triple on the Pioneers' next trip down the court restored an eight point advantage, but MIT continued to press, and two free throws by Rachel Hunt cut the Smith lead to 31-29 with a minute left before the halftime break.  Solis fed classmate Alyssa Barrett (Berlin, Conn./Berlin) for a three with 18 seconds left that sent Smith into the lockerroom with a 34-29 lead. 

Smith connected on 15-25 shots in the first half, but could not find the offense to open the second half, as the Pioneers made just one of their first eight shots over the first six minutes of the stanza.  MIT could not take full advantage, getting only a basket and free throw from Hunt to made it a 36-32 game with 14:14 to go.

The Engineers got within two on Mari Kordell's basket with 9:04 remaining, and kept hanging around.  Smith brought the lead back up to seven (50-43) on two free throws from Drummond, but MIT countered with a three from Sharon Hao and two more free throws from Hunt to cut the lead to 50-48 with 3:18 to go.

Hunt, who scored a game high 16 points, pulled MIT within one with 1:32 to go, only to see Giles score inside with 58 seconds to go, giving Smith a 54-51 lead.  Hunt turned the ball over on MIT's next possesion, but the Engineers had one more chance to send the game to overtime after Devon Quattrocchi (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) missed a short jumper.  MIT brought the ball down the court, but Tamara Pena committed an offensive foul and Quattrocchi sank one free throw for the final margin of victory. 

BelBruno led Smith with 12 points, while Drummond had nine points, eight rebounds, and three steals.  Alexxis Isaac led allplayers with nine rebounds for MIT.