WORCESTER -- Ava Giansiracusa (Wethersfield, CT), Emmy Allyn (Rutland, MA) and Ava Hyams (Kearny, NJ) combined for 35 points as the WPI women's basketball team rallied from a 16-point second quarter deficit to roar back and defeat visiting University of New England 58-47 inside Harrington Auditorium on Tuesday evening.
With the victory, the Engineers improve their record to 3-2 on the season while the Nor'easters slip to 2-4 overall.
After scoring the first points of the game on a Giansiracusa jumper two minutes in, WPI then saw the visitors rip off the final 16 points of the opening quarter. UNE missed its first five shots of the evening but then canned 5 of its last seven shots of the last 5:34 of the first quarter to lead 16-2 after 10 minutes. The Engineers then misfired on its first field goal attempt in the second and found themselves down 22-6 on a Grace Boucher (Wells, ME) trifecta with 7:49 to go before the half before uncorking a 17-2 spurt themselves to get to within a point at 24-23 and ended up headed to the locker room trailing just 26-23.
The Engineers strong shooting performance in the middle two quarters continued in the third quarter in which the Crimson and Gray outscored the guests 17-7 in the third, taking the lead for good at 29-28 on Megan Stone (Hanson, MA) layup with 7:07 remaining. WPI, which began the game shooting 1-10, connected on over 50% during the second and third frames, including a 15-for-25 (60%) stretch.
The fourth quarter saw the hosts keep the Nor'easters at bay with a strong performance from Delaney MacPhetres (Amherst, MA). The senior forward netted all six points in the final frame on 2-of-2 shooing from the floor and the free line and added a pair of rebounds. As a team, the Engineers, who attempted just five free throws over the first 30 minutes, were 7-of-10 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter.
Rebounding was key to the Engineers resurgence as the hosts enjoyed a significant 48-23 edge on the glass and parlayed 17 offensive boards into 17 second chance points.
WPI (3-2) was dominant on the glass, piling up a 48-23 margin in the rebounding column. The Engineers converted 17 offensive caroms into 16 second-chance points. It was a team effort as Leila Nielsen (New York, NY) led the way with eight rebounds, Hyams gobbled up seven and Allyn, Giansiracusa and Stone all finished with six. Giansiracusa totaled 13 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, while Allyn and Hyams both tallied 11.
Sydney Jenisch (Randolph, NJ) was the lone UNE player to reach double digits in the scoring column, finishing with a game-best 15 points on 7-for-15 accuracy from the floor. Emily Picher (Tewksbury, MA) accounted for nine points and Hannah Blanchard (Southington, CT) eight.
Both teams are off until after Thanksgiving. WPI concludes the second half of its four-game two-venue homestand, shifting to the WPI Sports & Recreation Center next week for home non-conference contests on Tuesday, December 2nd, at 7pm against Bridgewater State and Saturday, December 6th, at 2pm versus Salem State. UNE is back at it this Sunday, November 30th, staying in Maine, venturing to Lewiston for a 3pm matchup with No. 10 Bates.
