Women's Basketball Posts Thrilling 65-62 Victory over Wesleyan

WPI 65, Wesleyan 62

Worcester, MA --- Kaileen Selen (Worcester, MA) drained layups on consecutive possessions in the final 1:21 and Caitlin Macko (Cromwell, CT) notched a block shot and canned a pair of free throws in the waning seconds to boost WPI to a 65-62 win over visiting Wesleyan in non-conference women's basketball action on Thursday night. The victory was WPI's third in a row and improves the Engineers to 4-2 on the year.

Selen's second layup gave the Engineers a 63-60 lead with 38.9 seconds left. A Lucy Sprung (East Dover, VT) jumper sliced the advantage to one before both teams missed the front end of a one-and-one. A scramble ensued after Wesleyan's miss and with less than five seconds remaining, Macko swatted a runner in the lane. After another WPI missed free throw, Macko collected the rebound, was fouled and calmly sank a pair of free throws with 1.3 seconds left to provide the final margin.

The game was tightly contested throughout with neither team enjoying an advantage larger than seven points. WPI held the slimmest of rebounding edges (34-33) while both teams parlayed 14 turnovers into 15 points.

Natasha Deschene (Presque Isle, ME) led the Engineers with career highs of 14 points and 10 rebounds en route to recording her first career double-double. Macko also netted 14 points, while Serena Dubois (Bangor, ME) contributed 10 points and five boards. WPI shot 50% from the field in the second half while the bench, sparked by Selen's eight points, chipped in with 13 on the night to key the victory.

Wesleyan (4-2) was the aggressor in the opening minutes, using an 8-1 run to jump out to an early 12-5 advantage, but could not extend the lead any further. Wesleyan's Ali Fourney (East Northport, NY) led all scorers with 22 points and added a team-high eight rebounds and game-best four assists. Sprung added 14 points while Erin Gold (New Hope, PA) and Meredith Lowe (Philadelphia, PA) chipped in with 12 and eight respectively for the Cardinals.

WPI is off until Tuesday when the entertain Union at 5:30pm. Wesleyan concludes a brief two-game road trip on Saturday with a 1pm contest at Coast Guard.

Story written by Ray Cotrufo - WPI Athletics Department