No. 15/17 Women's Basketball at WPI
Saturday, February 18 | 1 p.m.
Harrington Auditorium | Worcester, Mass.

SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 37-25 all-time against WPI in a series that dates back to the 1976-77 season.
• The Beavers have won four straight and 10 of their last 13 games against the Engineers.
• The Green and White has won three straight games against WPI inside Harrington Auditorium although the teams have not played in Worcester since February 2019.

LAST MEETING
• Senior Samantha Smith converted a layup with 4.5 seconds remaining as the Beavers defeated WPI, 63-62, on February 19, 2022, in Babson Park.
• Senior Megan Bauman scored 18 points, sophomore Kiara Simone Davis added 11 and both players dished out four assists for Babson, which led by as many as 12 less than five minutes into the contest.
• Kara O'Neil finished with 14 points, graduate student McKenna Finken scored 13 points and classmate Emily Raynowska contributed 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists for the Engineers, who shot 46.4 percent in the game.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 15 WBCA/No. 17 D3hoops.com Babson (20-4, 7-2 NEWMAC) has won four of its last five games after defeating MIT, 84-60, on Wednesday night.
• Smith scored a career-high 21 points, junior Kelly Walsh had 18 points and Bauman finished one rebound shy of a triple-double with 17 points, 10 assists and nine boards for the Beavers, who raced out to a 46-24 halftime lead.
• Bauman (14.1 pts, 5.8 ast, 3.9 reb) ranks first in the league in assists and assist-to-turnover ratio and is fifth in scoring, Smith (12.2 pts, 7.9 reb, 2.3 blocks) is second in the conference in blocked shots and fifth in field goal percentage at 49.1 percent, and Walsh (10.4 pts, 4.3 reb, 2.0 steals) is sixth in the NEWMAC in steals.
• The Green and White ranks 17th in Division III in field goal percentage (43.5) and is first in the NEWMAC averaging 1.00 points per possession.

SCOUTING THE ENGINEERS
• WPI (17-5, 7-2 NEWMAC) has won six of its last seven games and is coming off a 64-54 victory at Coast Guard last Saturday.
• Graduate student Lisa Cristiano and sophomore Adrianna Niles both scored 11 points and graduate student Alex Scariati contributed nine points, nine rebounds and six assists for the Engineers, who held the Bears to just 33.9 percent shooting.
• Cristiano (10.5 pts, 4.9 reb) ranks first in the conference shooting 66.8 percent from the floor, junior Alice Kelly (8.8 pts, 6.2 reb) leads the team in rebounding and Scariati (7.7 pts, 5.7 reb, 5.7 ast) is second in the league in assists and is shooting 38.2 percent from beyond the arc.
• WPI ranks seventh in Division III in scoring defense allowing 46.9 points, eighth in field goal percentage defense (31.1) and is 12th nationally with a +11.2 rebounding margin.

JUDGEMENT DAY
• Babson, WPI and MIT enter the final day of the regular season tied for second place in the NEWMAC standings at 7-2.
• The Beavers would earn the second seed in next week's conference tournament with a win on Saturday in Worcester, while a loss would likely drop them to the fifth seed.

BUILDING A RESUME
• Babson was second behind Smith in Region II when the NCAA released its second regional rankings on Wednesday.
• The Green and White is 9-4 against regionally-ranked opponents this winter, which does not include Wednesday's victory over MIT, which was seventh in the most recent Region II poll.
• In addition to being ranked second in the region, the NCAA had the Beavers ranked No. 7 based on the tournament selection criteria when it released its current top 16 on Thursday night.

ASSAULT ON THE RECORD BOOKS
• After becoming the program's all-time assist leader in a win over Emerson on February 1, Bauman's 10 dimes against MIT helped her break her own single-season record of 132 assists set last winter.
• Bauman is also shooting 92.3 percent from the free throw line this season and is the program's all-time leader at 88.5 percent.
• Smith blocked four shots in the win over MIT to pass Meredith Hellen '05 for fifth place in Babson history with 109 career rejections. Her 1.3 blocks per game average also is currently third all-time.
• Junior Katelyn Mollica has knocked down 44 three-pointers this season, which is tied for sixth on the Beavers' single-season list and is the highest total by any Babson player since 2013.

SCORING EFFICIENTLY
• Babson shot 56.2 percent on two-point field goals against MIT while scoring 42 points in the paint.
• Over the last five games, the Green and White is shooting 50 percent as a team and 52.9 percent inside the arc, and is producing 1.09 points per possession.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 18-0 this season when holding their foes below 40 percent shooting.
• Babson has won eight of nine games this season and is 26-1 over the last three years when forcing 18 or more turnovers.
• The Beavers are 14-1 on the year when outrebounding their opponents.
• The Green and White is 17-2 since the start of last season when making at least six three-pointers.

UP NEXT
• Babson will play in a NEWMAC Tournament quarterfinal on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The location and opponent will be determined on Saturday.