NEW YORK—Senior Katelyn Mollica (Foxborough, Mass.) scored a game-high 18 points to help Babson College defeat Swarthmore College, 52-47, on the opening night of the Scholars Classic inside the John A. Paulson Center on the campus of New York University. 

Babson opens the season at 1-0 while Swarthmore starts 0-1. 

Mollica knocked down four three-pointers and scored eight points in the third quarter for the Beavers, who also got 12 points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists from sophomore Samantha Reale (North Attleboro, Mass.). Senior Camilla Silk (Medfield, Mass.) scored eight of her nine points in the second half and junior Chloe Perreault (Danbury, Conn.) led all players with seven rebounds in the victory. 

Junior Anna Hansson (Flemington, N.J.) finished with 10 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots to pace the Garnet. First-year Lillian Czub (Schaghticoke, N.Y.) added nine points and senior Norah Wingfield (Cornwall-on-Hudson, N.Y.) contributed eight points off the bench in the loss. 

The Green and White got a three-pointer from Mollica to end the first quarter and drained another with 8:10 left in the second for a 14-9 advantage. Swarthmore countered with a 9-0 run over the next five-plus minutes before Reale scored in the paint, senior Kiara Simone-Davis (Coral Springs, Fla.) followed with a layup and Perreault drilled a corner three-pointer to pull even at 21-all going into halftime. 

The Beavers led by as many as three in a third quarter that featured seven lead changes and entered the final period up 35-34 thanks to a triple by Mollica. The Garnet scored on three consecutive possessions early in the fourth to go back in front 40-37 on a jumper by Czub before Reale scored five straight points, which included converting a three-point play with 5:14 remaining to put Babson in front for good. 

Swarthmore got within a point twice over the final two minutes only to see the Beavers answer with points on the ensuing possession each time. Junior Allessia Carlo (Carmel, N.Y.) finished a driving layup to make it 46-43 with 1:34 left and Silk knocked down a pair of free throws for a 48-45 lead with 50 seconds to go. 

Davis then went 4-for-4 at the free throw line to give Babson its largest lead of the game at 52-45 with 25 seconds remaining. 

 The Beavers shot just 32.7 percent from the floor but finished with a 37-30 edge on the glass and turned 19 Garnet turnovers into 21 points. 

Both teams are back in action on Saturday as Babson takes on No. 1 NYU at 3 p.m., while Swarthmore meets MIT at 1 p.m.

GAME NOTES
•    Friday's matchup was the first all-time for the Beavers against Swarthmore. 
•    Babson is now 12-1 when leading or tied going into halftime since the start of last year. 
•    The Green and White has won 68 consecutive games when holding its opponents below 50 points. 
•    The Beavers are 8-1 since the start of the 2021-22 campaign in neutral-court games.