Box Score NORTHAMPTON, Mass. – The Smith College basketball team used a balanced effort to get past visiting MIT, 65-54, in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's basketball matchup on Saturday afternoon inside Ainsworth Gym.
The Pioneers, who moved into second place in the NEWMAC standings, improved to 12-10 overall and 12-5 in league play while the Engineers dipped to 9-12 overall and 6-10 in conference action.
Junior
Lauren Weston (Florence, Mass./Northampton) tallied 12 points to lead Smith as junior
Paulina Solis (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill) and first-year
Jazmine Collins (Springfield, Mass./Sabis) added 11 each and senior
Rosa Drummond (Rye, N.H./Portsmouth) tacked on 10. Drummond paced the team with nine boards while Solis recorded a game-best three swipes and shared game-high assist honors with rookie
Jade Chihara (Laihana, Hawaii/Laihanaluna) as they tallied four apiece.
Sophomore Sabrina Drammis scored a game-high 16 points and hauled in nine rebounds. Junior Mari Kordell pitched in with 13 points and sophomore Maya Ramachandran tallied 10.
The first half saw six ties and four lead changes. Neither team had more than a five-point advantage while the Pioneers entered the locker room with a 28-27 lead.
After Smith pushed out to a 32-27 advantage with 1:30 expired in the second half, Drammis and senior Rachel Hunt teamed up to put the Engineers in front 33-32 with 16:49 left. The next 3:33 featured five lead changes and two ties. Solis drained a jumper to hand the Pioneers the lead for good with 13:16 remaining.
Smith slowly built as double-digit lead thanks to a 13-4 outburst capped by a Solis jumper at 7:48. Drammis scored on the ensuing possession to bring the game back to single digits, but Weston responded with a jumper to ignite a 7-0 run.
MIT engineered a 6-0 spurt to get back within nine following a Ramachandran jumper with 4:04 remaining. The Pioneers then outscored their guests 7-5 the rest of the way.
The Pioneers scored 19 of the games 26 points off turnovers and held a commanding 23-7 advantage in bench scoring.
Smith travels down I-91 to take on Springfield on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. while MIT entertains Wheaton at 8:00 p.m.
