Jan. 15, 2008

Box Score

BABSON PARK, Mass. - The Babson College women's basketball team built a 16-point second half lead and then survived a furious comeback attempt by visiting Trinity College on Tuesday, as the Beavers held on to defeat the Bantams, 71-62, in a non-conference contest at Staake Gymnasium. With its fourth win in six games, Babson improved to 5-8 overall, while Trinity dropped to 8-3.

Senior Linsey Poulson (Leominster, Mass.) led Babson with 17 points, nine rebounds, and four assists while shooting 7-for-12 from the field. Fellow seniors Caitlin Fenn (Niantic, Conn.) and Caitlin Boulier (Wolcott, Conn.) also played well in the victory, with Fenn recording 15 points and three steals and Boulier adding 13 points and four blocked shots. First-year Rebecca Bowman (Melrose, Mass.) tossed in eight points for the Beavers, and first-year Amanda Grammel (Leominster, Mass.) joined Poulson with a team-high four assists.

Trinity was paced by sophomore Clair Arnstein (Hicksville, N.Y.), who finished with 17 points and five assists, and sophomore Kristen Liska (Falmouth, Mass.), who added 10 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore Christine Card (Waterbury, Conn.) also had a strong game for the Bantams, amassing eight points, nine boards, and three assists.

Babson used a quick 6-0 run midway through the first half to build a four-point lead and eventually led by as many as eight, 26-18, after two freebies by Fenn with 6:26 remaining. Trinity cut it back to four on back-to-back jumpers by senior Devon Kearns (Glastonbury, Conn.) and Liska, but Babson used an 11-5 run over the final four and a half minutes of the period to take a 37-27 advantage into the break.

The Bantams trimmed their deficit to just six, 42-36, on a three-pointer by senior Kathleen Conlon (Sagamore Beach, Mass.) early in the second stanza, but Babson erupted for nine straight points, including five by Boulier, to build a commanding 51-36 lead with 14 minutes left. The Beavers later took their largest lead of the contest, 53-37, on a nice post move by sophomore Sarah Hughes (Wellesley, Mass.), and still led by double-digits after a Poulson lay-up made it 61-49 with just 4:38 remaining.

After missing seven straight field goal attempts at one point during the period, Trinity finally caught fire in the final 3:14, as the Bantams exploded for an 11-0 run to get back to within one at 61-60. Arnstein and Kearns each hit clutch three-pointers during the barrage, while sophomore Jessica Sims (Peabody, Mass.) added a conventional three-point play.

That would prove to be as close as Trinity would get, as Boulier responded with Babson's biggest basket of the night when she converted a nice feed from Poulson to push Babson's lead back to three, 63-60, with 1:22 remaining. Fenn then gathered a defensive rebound at the other end and drew a foul, and her two free throws gave the hosts a 65-60 cushion with just under a minute to play. Poulson, Grammel, and Fenn each converted two more freebies in the final 30 seconds as the Beavers held on for the 71-62 victory. The Beavers shot 85.7 percent (12-for-14) from the line in the second half, including eight straight conversions in the final minute.