Salem, MA --- The Wethersfield, Connecticut combination of Alice Kelly and Ava Giansiracusa teamed up for 29 points but it was not enough as the WPI women's basketball team fell 55-51 on the road at Salem State on Saturday afternoon.

The Engineers see their overall record fall to 4-3, while the Vikings improve to 3-5 on the season.
 
In the final minute of action, back-to-back layups by Ernidia Goncalves (Everett, MA), sandwiched by a drive to the hoop by WPI's Allison Fullem (Underhill, VT), lifted the hosts to a 52-49 advantage with 38.8 seconds remaining. A foul by the Boynton Hillers converted to two more points for Salem State by Abuk Teng (Manchester, NH) with 26.0 seconds left, but Shannon Reno (Milbury, MA) found Kelly on a nifty backdoor cut on the next possession with 11.1 seconds to go to get it back to within two. A desperate foul by the Engineers forced Kylie Gates (Pembroke, MA) to step up the line, sinking 1-of-2 free throws with 8.7 seconds on the clock and WPI's last gasp fell short, ending the game at 55-51.
 
To begin the game, the Vikings struck first with a made layup by Goncalves at 9:13. The Engineers were quick to retaliate when Kelly drained a jump shot, tying the score at 2-2. Both defenses held strong, forcing a scoreless streak with both teams having 11 shots combined that fell short from 8:22 to 4:37, but WPI's Giansiracusa broke the silence with an uncontested trey. SSU's Maria Orfanos (Lynn, MA) drained a three-pointer, but Paige Davenport (Albany, NY) kept the Engineers in the advantage with a reverse layup with 2:52 remaining. The Vikings saw two nifty layups to end the quarter, giving the hosts a three-point lead, 10-7, going into the second stanza.
 
The next 10 minutes was a lot of back-and-forth action. Salem State saw a 9-3 run with Teng notching four points, bringing the game score to 19-10, the largest lead of the game so far. Two free throws by Emmy Allyn (Rutland, MA) and Kelly, and a layup by Kelly, cut the deficit to only three with less than two minutes before the halftime break. The score was 21-16 after the second stanza, with the Vikings' Gates adding on the layup to conclude the half.
 
Coming out of the locker room following the break, both teams were determined to add tallies to the scoring column. A quick free throw by Kelly and a layup by Megan Stone (Hanson, MA) chipped away at the lead, reducing the margin to just two. The hosts Liz Zaiter (Peabody, MA) shined this quarter, accounting for 12 points, one board and a block.  Six Engineers tallied points in the third quarter with Giansiracusa draining two shots from downtown. Kelly notched two free throws with just over two minutes left, narrowing the lead to three, but a late layup by Nicolette D'Itria (Revere, MA) ended the quarter with Salem State leading by five with a 40-35 advantage.
 
The final 10 minutes saw tight competition and strong offensives by both teams. A quick layup by the Boynton Hillers Fullem, a trey by Giansiracusa, and a layup by Vikings D'Itria narrowed the gap to two at 42-40 with 8:56 remaining. After Goncalves added a layup for Salem State, a scoreless streak occurred from 7:53 to 5:31, when Kelly drained two free throws for the Crimson and Gray. Allyn drove to the hoop to tie up the game at 44 all with 4:26 to go. The Vikings scored the next four points, but Shannon Reno (Millbury, MA) knocked it down from downtown with just over two minutes left, bringing the score to 48-47 before the aforementioned finish.
 
The Engineers offense was led by Kelly and Giansiracusa, accumulating 17 and 12 points respectively. Kelly added five boards and two assists, and Giansiracusa grabbed two rebounds. Allyn accounted for seven points, five caroms and four assists. For the Vikings, Zaiter tallied 13 points and three boards, and D'Itria added 11 points and seven rebounds. Gates assisted an outstanding 12 shots and pulled down three caroms.
 
WPI was held to just 28.6% (16-of-56) on the afternoon with 19 bench points. Salem State made 21-of-54 (38.9%) on the game, with 13 second chance points and 36 points in the paint.
 
WPI is back in action after final exams on December 19th, hosting Bates at 3pm. Salem State visits Wellesley for a 7pm contest on Tuesday.
 
Recap Written by WPI Sports Information Student Assistant Maya Vartabedian '24 '25