Wentworth Outlasts Simmons in Basketball, 61-41

WELLESLEY, Mass -- Simmons Basketball was down just four at the half but the Wellesley College blue used a dominant second-half surge to defeat the Sharks, 69-56, on Tuesday night at Keohane Sports Center. 

BOSTON, Mass. ? Freshman Carly Rogers (Scarborough, Maine) scored a game-high 14 points and senior Jordan Biggar (Beverly, Mass.) added 13 points as the Wentworth women?s basketball team held Simmons to 20.8 percent shooting from the floor in the second half in a 61-41 non-conference win at Tansey Gymnasium.

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. ? Fresh off holiday break, the Simmons basketball team fell to the Mount Holyoke College Lyons 70-51 in non-conference action on Thursday. The Lyons, who were led by a game-high 18 points from senior Angelica Pascual, improves to 2-7 overall. The Sharks slip to 1-7 on the season.

BOSTON, Mass. – Freshman Carly Rogers (Scarborough, Maine) scored a game-high 14 points and senior Jordan Biggar (Beverly, Mass.) added 13 points as the Wentworth women's basketball team held Simmons to 20.8 percent shooting from the floor in the second half in a 61-41 non-conference win at Tansey Gymnasium.

The opening portion of the first half saw Simmons take an early 5-2 lead and would lead 11-10 after a pair of free throws from junior guard Leah Davis (Cranston, R.I.) created the seventh lead change of the first 9:48. Wentworth used a 7-0 run, including five points from senior Ashley Conway (Danvers, Mass.) to take a 17-11 lead with 7:52 remaining in the half.

Simmons scored the next six points and tied the game on a freshman Chanel Thomas (Phoenix, Ariz.) basket with 4:15 left. After Rogers hit two free throws to put the Leopards up by one, the Sharks re-gained the lead on a 3-pointer from freshman Jen Janiak (Chelmsford, Mass.).

Biggar scored Wentworth's last four points in the half, including a basket with three ticks left to give the hosts a 23-22 lead at the break.

The Sharks tied the game on a senior Liz O'Connor (Milton, Mass.) free throw to open the half before the Leopards used an 11-2 run to take a 34-25 lead with 14:20 left. One of two free throws by Thomas made it an eight-point game but an 8-2 run by the hosts pushed the lead to 14 and broke the game open.

In addition to her 14 points, Rogers grabbed nine rebounds and had three steals. Conway chipped in with eight points, two assists, and two steals, while junior Kendra Kerr (Marshfield, Mass.) had six points, five rebounds, six assists, and four steals. As a team the Leopards scored 25 points off of 28 Simmons turnovers and scored 27 points off the bench.

Simmons was led by O'Connor's double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds, which included going 8-for-12 from the free throw line.

The Leopards improve to 4-2 and are at the University of St. Joseph on Wednesday night. Simmons falls to 0-5 and hosts Pine Manor on Saturday, December 8th at 1:00 p.m.