BOX SCORE

AMHERST, Mass. -- Playing its first national tourney game in a decade, the Babson College women's basketball team fell to powerful Amherst College, 77-54, in the first round of the 2009 NCAA Division III Championship Tournament at Amherst on Friday night. The victory improved the Lord Jeffs' record to 26-2 on the season, while the Beavers saw their outstanding season come to a close with a mark of 20-9.

First-year Kathleen King (Framingham, Mass.) paced Babson in defeat with her 11th double-double of the year, finishing with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Fellow first-year Nicki Wurdeman (Rowley, Mass.) also added 14 points, and sophomore Becky Bowman (Melrose, Mass.) chipped in with eight points.  

Amherst was led by Lem Antanga McCormick, who scored a game-high 17 points, Kim Fiorentino, who tallied 13 points and five boards, Jaclyn Daigneault, who netted 11 points, and Shannon Finucane, who added 10 points.  

Babson's youth and tournament inexperience showed early on, as the Beavers missed their first six shot attempts while committing six turnovers in the first six minutes of the game. Meanwhile, Amherst scored the first nine points of the contest en route to a commanding 18-1 lead with 14:22 left in the opening half. 

Babson answered with its first two buckets of the game to get back to within 13 with 13:17 remaining, but the Lord Jeffs continued to pour on the offense over the next nine minutes, building a 44-15 advantage with 4:15 on the clock. The Beavers then recovered to score the final six points of the period, cutting the hosts' lead to 44-21 at the break. 

The Beavers scored the first two points of the second half to make it an 8-0 run, but Amherst netted 12 of the next 16 points to push its advantage to 56-27 with 13:27 left to play. Babson would get no closer than 21 the rest of the way as the Lord Jeffs claimed the 77-54 victory.