Women's Basketball (10-7, 4-1) Goes 1-1, Moves into Second-Place Tie in NEWMAC

The Wheaton College women's basketball team went 1-1 last week, falling at nationally-ranked Tufts University, 79-71 on Tuesday in a rematch of a 2008 NCAA Tournament first-round game before taking down visiting Wellesley College, 64-49 on Saturday in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play. The Lyons are 19-2 in their most recent 21 contests against conference foes, having won 13 straight at home against NEWMAC counterparts. A little less than halfway through the league slate, Wheaton is tied for second in the conference with Springfield College.

At Tufts, the Lyons trailed the Jumbos, who are 11th in the D3hoops.com national poll, by only four points with a little more than six minutes left but came up short. Junior Jenny Champney (Bedford, MA/Bedford) finished with a career-high 26 points to go along with nine rebounds, while senior Krystin Hickey (Manchester, NH/New Hampton School) totaled 12 points, eight boards and four assists. Classmate Bri Smith (Westford, MA/Westford Academy) added four helpers, and junior Andrea Bailey (Needham, MA/Needham) tallied four steals. The Lyons shot 27-of-31 at the charity stripe.

Against Wellesley, Wheaton trailed by an 8-6 count nearly 11 minutes into the game before breaking out for 58 points in the final 29 minutes, going up by as many as 21 down the stretch. Smith canned three three-pointers and finished with 18 points, four assists and four steals, while senior Jennie Pleat (Nashua, NH/Nashua South) turned in a career-high 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting and snagged a career-high-tying seven rebounds, including five on the offensive end. Hickey collected 10 points, 10 rebounds and four helpers, and junior Ida Kruse (Vershire, VT/Rivendell Academy) went 5-of-7 to notch 10 points and five rebounds off the bench. Bailey added six assists, while Champney had seven rebounds and a career-high-tying six blocks, one shy of the 18-year-old school record.

Hickey is second in program history in career points (1,422), sitting 28 shy of Allyson Aube's '95 record of 1,450. She is also second in field goals (543), fifth in free throws (245) and seventh in three-pointers (91). Champney is first in career blocks (107) and fifth in a single season (38), Smith is second in career threes (141), Bailey is seventh in assists (265), and Pleat is tied for ninth in games played (102).