BABSON PARK, Mass.—Senior Katelyn Mollica (Foxborough, Mass.) led a balanced attack with 13 points and Babson College built a 21-point second quarter lead on the way to defeating visiting Wheaton College, 74-52, 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 win, Babson improves to 12-9 overall and 4-3 in conference play. Wheaton has dropped two straight games to slip to 7-14 overall and 3-4 in the NEWMAC. 

Sophomore Samantha Reale (North Attleboro, Mass.) finished with 11 points, seven rebounds and three steals, while senior Emily Flynn (Hanover, Mass.) added nine points and seven boards for the Beavers. Classmate Camilla Silk (Medfield, Mass.) and junior Allessia Carlo (Carmel, N.Y.) also scored nine points apiece in the win. 

Junior Kiki Walters (Fleetwood, Pa.) led all scorers with 14 points, while classmates Madeline Duwe (Greenville, S.C.) and Regan Keyter (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) contributed 13 points apiece to pace the Lyons. Sophomore Cheyenne Colbert (Brookline, N.H.) led all players with 12 rebounds and four assists in the loss. 

The lead changed hands eight times over the first four-plus minutes of action before Flynn put the Green and White in front for good at 12-10 with a three-pointer at the 5:32 mark. Walters knocked down two free throws for Wheaton before the Beavers created separation with a 23-4 run over the next eight minutes. 

Flynn got the spurt started with another three-pointer from the top of the key and Reale and Carlo combined for the next nine Babson points extending the margin to 26-14 with 41 seconds to go in the first quarter. First-year Julia St. Laurent (Greenland, N.H.) ended the opening frame with a pair of free throws and started the second with a layup, while Silk followed up a corner triple by Mollica with a hoop inside to give the Beavers their largest lead of the game at 37-16 with 6:10 to go before halftime. 

The margin was still 17 with just over three minutes to play but Duwe scored five quick points and Walters buried a three-pointer from the right wing to cut the Lyons' deficit to 41-32 going to the locker room. Wheaton got as close as seven on a jumper by Keyter two minutes into the third before the Green and White got points from six different players and outscored the visitors 12-4 over the remainder of the stanza to extend its lead back to 53-38 on a short jumper by first-year Mary Kate Flynn (Hanover, Mass.). 

Emily Flynn buried her third three-pointer of the game to start the fourth and Mary Kate Flynn scored to make it 62-41 with 5:34 to play for Babson, which led by as many as 25 in the closing minutes. 

The Beavers shot 10-of-13 (76.9 percent) in the first quarter and 42.4 percent for the game while finishing with a 45-31 edge on the glass and scoring 22 points off of 16 Wheaton turnovers. The Lyons shot just 35.3 percent from the floor and went 1-of-11 from beyond the arc in the second half. 

Both teams return to action on Wednesday as Babson hosts MIT at 7:30 p.m., while Wheaton takes on Wellesley at 7 p.m. 

GAME NOTES
•    The Beavers are 53-16 all-time against Wheaton and have won 14 straight games in the series going back to 2015. 
•    Babson is now 7-0 this season and 18-3 since the start of last year when shooting at least 40 percent. 
•    The Green and White is 8-2 this winter when holding its opponents below 60 points. 
•    Babson's 16 steals are a season high and its most since finishing with 19 in a rout of Mount Holyoke back on January 26, 2022.