BABSON PARK, Mass.—Junior Katleyn Mollica (Foxborough, Mass.) scored 13 of her game-high 16 points in the second half and sophomore Allessia Carlo (Carmel, N.Y.) added a career-high 14 points to help Babson College defeat visiting WPI, 56-43, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's basketball action on Saturday afternoon inside Staake Gymnasium. 

With its third straight, Babson improves to 9-10 overall and 3-2 in conference play. WPI has dropped three of its last four games to slip to 9-10 overall and 1-4 in the NEWMAC. 

Sophomore Chloe Perreault (Danbury, Conn.) finished with 10 points and seven rebounds for the Beavers, while first-year Sofia Santorelli (Harrison, N.Y.) led a balanced attack with 10 points for the Engineers. 

The Green and White got three-pointers from Perreault and Carlo to forge a 10-4 advantage just past the midway point of the first quarter before both teams went scoreless for more than six minutes. WPI pulled within one early in the second and tied the game at 16 on a three-pointer by first-year Ava Giansiracusa (Wethersfield, Conn.) at the 3:53 mark but Carlo scored five points during a 9-3 spurt that helped the Beavers match their largest lead of the half at 25-19 less than a minute before the break. 

The Engineers opened the third quarter with a 10-2 run that included triples from Giansiracusa and junior Adrianna Niles (Tewksbury, Mass.) but Babson ended a field goal drought of over six minutes with back-to-back three-pointers by Mollica and Perreault to spark a 13-0 burst. Mollica drilled another trifecta and then followed two free throws by junior Emily Flynn (Hanover, Mass.) with a driving layup to put the Beavers up 40-29 with 59 seconds left in the stanza. Mollica pushed the margin to 12 with another bucket to start the fourth and answered six consecutive points by WPI with her fourth triple of the night to make it 45-36 with 6:33 remaining. 

The visitors closed the game to six on a free throw by senior Shannon Reno (Millbury, Mass.) with 4:30 to play but were unable to get any closer as Babson responded by scoring nine of the next 11 points to put the game away. Perreault stretched the margin back to double-digits with a jumper at the 3:03 mark, Reale converted a three-point play one possession later and Carlo gave the Green and White its largest lead of the afternoon at 54-41 going 2-of-2 at the charity stripe with 1:38 to go. 

The Beavers shot 44.4 percent from the floor and 50 percent from beyond the arc in addition to scoring 19 points off of 16 WPI turnovers. The Engineers, who shot just 28 percent, finished with a 38-30 edge on the glass. 

Both teams return to action on Wednesday as Babson hosts Wellesley at 6 p.m. while WPI takes on Clark at 7 p.m. 

GAME NOTES
•    The Beavers are 40-26 all-time against WPI and have won six consecutive games in the series. 
•    Babson is 15-2 at home against NEWMAC foes going back to 2022. 
•    The Beavers have won 63 consecutive games when holding their opponents below 30 percent shooting going back to 2014.
•    The Green and White is now 6-0 this winter and has won 65 straight games when keeping an opponent below 50 points.