CHESTNUT HILL, MA – Freshman Michelle Woods (Wilmington, Mass.) matched a career-high with 28 points and classmate Jaime Grzych (Columbia, Conn.) handed out a school-record 14 assists to lead the Wheelock College women's basketball team to an 81-58 victory over visiting Lesley University this evening in a New England Collegiate Conference contest at Brunelli Court on the campus of Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, Mass. The Wildcats improve to 3-13 overall and 2-8 in NECC play, while the Lynx fall to 1-16 and 1-9.
Woods also added 16 rebounds to record her seventh double-double of the season to go with three steals, two assists and a blocked shot for Wheelock. Grzych eclipsed the assist mark of 10 set by teammate Amber Tudor (Bronx, NY) just a week ago against Becker College. Grzych also added 10 points, seven rebounds and a blocked shot to her night.
The teams played within four points of each other for all but 52 seconds of the first half. Lesley took its largest lead of the night when sophomore guard Jackie Ewing (Hong Kong) made a jumper at the 10:58 mark to give the visitors a 13-9 lead. The Wildcats went on a 9-2 run over the next four minutes to take an 18-15 margin with 6:55 to play in the first half, but the Lynx scored the next five points to take a 20-18 lead with 5:50 showing in the first half. It was the last lead of the night for Lesley as Wheelock closed out the opening half with a 12-4 stretch, fueled by six points from Woods, to take a 30-24 lead at the intermission.
The Wildcats wasted no time in the second half as senior guard Jessica Ramsey (Milford, Mass.) buried a three-pointer in the opening seconds of the stanza and freshman forward Shannon Garvey (Clarksburg, Mass.) later made a lay-up to give the home team a 41-30 lead with 15:27 remaining in the period. Sophomore guard Ari Dimou (Manchester, N.H.) scored the next four points with a pair of lay-ups for the Lynx to cut the deficit to 41-34 at 14:43. Wheelock later owned a 46-37 cushion at 13:04, before it pulled away with a 19-6 run, led by 11 points from Woods, to increase its advantage to 65-43 with 5:49 left to play in the contest. Lesley put together a 9-4 run to pull to within 69-52 at the 3:56 mark, but the Wildcats countered with a 12-2 run to take their largest lead of the evening at 81-54 with 51 ticks left on the clock.
Sophomore guard Katie Alsip (Quincy, MA) netted a career-high 17 points and grabbed 11 boards for her first double-double in addition to making four steals and dishing for two assists for Wheelock. Garvey finished with 14 points, nine boards, an assist and a personal-best three blocked shots.
Dimou led the Lynx with 18 points and added two rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals, while senior forward Nicole Mercurio (Wakefield, Mass.) posted a double-double of 10 points and 16 rebounds to go with three steals, two blocks and an assist. Freshman guard Tara Coleman (Lanoka Harbor, N.J.) came off the bench to chip in with nine points, five rebounds, two assists and a steal.
The Wildcats will be in action again on Saturday, January 25 when they host NECC foe Elms College at 1:00 p.m. on Brunelli Court, while Lesley hosts Southern Vermont College on the same day at 2:00 p.m.