BOX SCORE

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- First-years Kathleen King (Framingham, Mass.) and Nicole Wurdeman (Rowley, Mass.) each scored 17 points to lead the Babson College women's basketball team to a 47-46 victory over Springfield College in an important New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) game this afternoon on the Springfield College campus. With the win, Babson is now 14-7 overall, 7-2 in the NEWMAC, while Springfield is now 12-9 overall, and also 7-2 in the conference.

King and Wurdeman scored 20 of the Beavers 22 second half points with 10 points apiece. King pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds for her eighth double-double this season. Beyond that, sophomore guard Becky Bowman (Melrose, Mass.) added 6 points for Babson.

For Springfield, senior forward Corey Finch (Hanover, Pa.) was the only player to reach double figures with 10 points. She also added 9 rebounds. First-year guard Kelly Murphy (Mechanicville, N.Y.) scored 9 points, adding 2 assists, and 1 steal. Senior center Lauren O'Connor (Valhalla, N.Y.) scored 7 points and added 9 rebounds and sophomore guard Abby Connors (Douglas, Mass.) also added 7 points.

After Babson scored the game's first hoop, the Pride went on a 9-1 run, capped by a 3-pointer by sophomore guard Rachelle Walker (Lee, Mass.), making it 9-3 with 15:30 remaining. Springfield then led 15-9 when Finch made a lay-up with 9:50 left

The Beavers then began to make their move, outscoring Springfield 16-7 for the remainder of the period. At the half, King and Wurdeman each scored 7 points to lead their Babson squad. For Springfield, Finch led with 6 points and 8 rebounds.

In the second half, Springfield scored the first basket to cut the margin to one, 25-24, with 19:01 remaining. But in the next 3:05, Babson outscored the Pride, 10-0, for the game's most significant momentum swing. Wurdeman had 6 points and King 4 points in those three minutes. Babson took command with 15:56 left, leading by 11 with a score of 35-24.

From there, it was a game-long battle for Springfield to close the gap. The Pride would cut it to one on two occasions -- the first on a free throw by Murphy with 7:55 left, making it 41-40, and the second on two free throws with 28 seconds left by O'Connor, making it 47-46.

Springfield called a time-out with 18 seconds remaining following a Babson turnover. After the ball was inbounded by Springfield, Murphy found the ball in her hands with about 7 seconds left on the right baseline. She drove to the hoop, missing the difficult lay-up attempt. First-year forward Cherelle Allen (New Britain, Conn.) grabbed the rebound but also missed the lay-up attempt. The Beavers found themselves on the free-throw line with 6/10ths of a second remaining but were unable to make the shot. Springfield grabbed the rebound but found no more time to get a shot off.

Babson will return home to host MIT on Wednesday, February 11th at 6:00pm and Springfield will host Mount Holyoke that same evening at 5:30pm.

NOTE: Portions of this game story taken from a Springfield College press release.