Mitchell outlasts Wheelock in women’s hoops

 CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - Senior co-captains Sarah Brown (Plainville, Conn.) and Elise Ordile (Waltham, Mass.) each scored 13 points for Wheelock, but it wasn't enough as the Wildcats fell to Mitchell College 57-47 in New England Collegiate Conference play Saturday afternoon at Pine Manor College. The win improves Mitchell to 2-0 in the NECC and 2-5 overall while Wheelock falls to 0-7 on the season.

The Mariners led by as many as 14 points in the first half, putting together an 18-2 run, including six points from Jennifer Iglesias (Waterbury, Conn.), who scored a game-high 14 points on the afternoon. Trailing 24-10 with 5:41 remaining in the first half, the Wildcats found the hot hand with Brown, whose back to back three pointers helped to spark a 20-5 run that put Wheelock up by a point at half-time.

Mitchell opened up the second half with eight unanswered points, four from Iglesias, before Kayla Drescher (Wallingford, Conn.) dropped in a lay-up to make it 38-32 Mariners with 14:59 remaining. Wheelock was able to pull within three on a Brown jumper at the 8:04 mark, but that was as close as the Wildcats would get.

Both teams hit only seven field goals in the second half, but Mitchell was able to get to the free-throw line 17 times and convert 12 of those into points for the difference in the game. Nine different Mariner players lit up the score board for first year head coach Bernadette Macca, whose bench produced 21 points. Kaylee Cerruto (Torrington, Conn.) was also in double-figures for Mitchell with ten points

Wheelock will next host Mount Ida College at 7:00 on Monday, while Mitchell travels to Lesley University for a 5:30 game on Tuesday.