Wheelock women lose bid for third consecutive win
LEICESTER, Mass - Senior guard Sarah Brown (Plainville, Conn.) scored the 1,000th point of her career and teammates Elise Ordile (Waltham, Mass.) and Keneisha Milton (Boston, Mass.) had career nights, but the Wheelock Wildcats fell to Becker College 70-64 Tuesday night in NECC action. (Above: Sarah Brown nailed a triple with under five minutes remaining to reach 1,000 career points. Brown finished with 16 points on the night.)
The teams played to a 39-39 tie at halftime. Wheelock freshman guard Keneisha Milton had 12 rebounds and 8 points and Brown finished the first half with 14 points. Hawks tri-captain Shannon Tibbetts led Becker with 12 points on 4 for 6 shooting. Heidi Miller (Sanbornton, NH) chipped in 8 points and had 5 boards. The Wildcats out rebounded the Hawks 26-11 in the first half.
Both teams came out of the locker room and struggled on the floor. The first basket scored was a layup by Kristina Desnoyers (Adams, Mass.) nearly 5 minutes into the second half. Tibbetts hit from behind the arc as Becker built a 53-49 advantage with just under 11 minutes remaining. Wheelock followed quickly with back-to-back baskets by Elise Ordile and Kayla Drescher (Wallingford, Conn.) to tie it at 53. Becker bounced back to build the lead back to four points, 57-53 on two quick layups by Courtney Fisk (Westfield, Mass.) and Tibbetts.
Wheelock cut the lead to one point 59-58 with just under five minutes remaining but the Hawks responded with a Heidi Miller 3-point-play to increase the lead to 62-58. The Wildcats tied the game at 62 on consecutive baskets but Becker promptly responded with two baskets of their own to take a 66-62 lead with two minutes on the clock. The Hawks defense caused three turnovers and held Wheelock to just 2 points the rest of the way for the 70-64 win.
The Wildcats were led by Milton with 8 points and 15 rebounds, Ordile who had a double double with 16 points and 15 rebounds.
Becker’s guard duo of Fiske and Desnoyers both added 14 points.
The Hawks host Mitchell College in NECC action on Thursday at 7:00pm.
