Simmons Basketball was defeated by Johnson & Wales University, 58-52 in the Sharks' Great Northeast Athletic Conference opener in Providence, R.I. on Tuesday evening. With the win, JWU is now 4-8 for the season and 1-0 in the GNAC while Simmons falls to 5-7 on the year, 0-1 in league play.

Johnson & Wales was led by sophomore Marina Millian with 15 points and eight boards while senior Morgan Wilson added 15 points, five rebounds and three assists rebounds in the win for the Wildcats.

Simmons was paced by Liz O'Connor (Milton, Mass.) with 18 points and six rebounds while junior Alex Acloque (Randolph, Mass.) had a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds in the setback for the Sharks.

JWU jumped out to the early lead and took their first double-figure advantage when a pair of free throws by sophomore Ayla Walter put the Wildcats up 13-2 with 14:14 left in the first half. Simmons responded and cut the lead to 20-18 on a three-pointer by junior Brittany Dolloff (Hollis, N.H.) with 1:16 left in the first half. The Wildcats took the 24-18 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Wildcats pushed their lead to 12 points early in the second half when a three-point play by Wilson put the squad up 30-18 with 18:05 left in the contest. Simmons was able to cut the lead to just five points after a jumper by O'Connor with :23 remaining brought the score to 57-52. That would be as close as the Sharks would get, however, as JWU held on for the 58-52 victory.

Simmons returns to action on Thursday, January 13 when they host Lasell in a GNAC matchup at 7:00pm. The Wildcats will return to action the same day and time when they travel to Curry for a non-conference contest.