Mitchell College Women Defeat Bay Path

The Mitchell College women's basketball team defended a lead against Bay Path College on Saturday, but the men's team couldn't hold onto an early lead in a game against Wheelock College, dropping the game in a 72-52 result. The following information was provided by Alan Wickström, sports information director at Wheelock College and David Longolucco, sports information director at Mitchell College:

Women's Basketball: Mitchell 74, Bay Path 66

Mitchell College held off a late charge in the final minute of a 74-66 victory over Bay Path College on Saturday afternoon in New England Collegiate Conference women’s basketball action at HCC-Brantley Arena.

The Mariners led by 10 points with a minute left to play, but the Wildcats stormed back to cut the deficit to three over a 20-second span. Mitchell, however, regained its composure and closed out the game from the free throw line, going 5-for-6 from the stripe in the final 16 seconds.

Mitchell won its third straight game and improved to 4-8 overall and 3-3 in conference play. Freshman Sheanna James (Waterbury, Conn./Kaynor Tech) led all scorers with 24 points and added a team-high 14 rebounds. Senior Bianca Young (Bridgeport, Conn./Kolbe Cathedral) also notched a double-double with 17 points and 11 boards while freshman Zilka Navarro (Waterbury, Conn./Kennedy) chipped in with 21 points and six assists.

Bay Path (2-7 overall, 2-3 NECC) was led by junior Brittney Alexander (Enfield, Conn./Enrico Fermi) with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Freshmen Je’Quana Orr (East Hartford, Conn./Hartford) and Toni Alexander (Enfield, Conn./Enrico Fermi) also scored in double figures with 14 and 11 points, respectively, while sophomore Kayla Skiffington (East Longmeadow, Mass./East Longmeadow) pulled down a game-high 19 rebounds.

Bay Path led 6-2 in the early stages before Mitchell seized momentum and took the lead for good behind a 25-1 run. All five Mitchell starters scored during the spurt, with James leading the way with 10 points. The Mariners led by as many as 22 points in the stanza and shot 39 percent for the half.

The Wildcats struggled to find their shot for the majority of the half, missing 24 straight attempts before Orr buried a three-pointer with 5:18 to go in the half. The shot got Bay Path back on track, and it scored 14 more points before the halftime buzzer to cut the deficit to 39-26 at intermission.

Bay Path inched to within four points in the early moments of the second half, but Mitchell stayed in front and eventually built the margin back to double digits. The Mariners led 69-59 with under a minute to play in regulation when the Wildcats made their final surge. Sophomore Taylor Riley (Colchester, Vt./Burlington) started things off with a lay-up, and a steal by junior Nicole Delano (Enfield, Conn./Enrico Fermi) resulted in a quick basket by Orr to cut the margin to six.

Another Mitchell turnover on the ensuing play yielded a lay-up and for Brittney Alexander, and she made the basket and was fouled on the play. She drained the freebie to make it 69-63 with 29 seconds remaining, capping a stretch where the Wildcats scored seven points in 20 seconds.

Navarro righted the ship for the Mariners, making a pair of free throws with 16 seconds to play and adding another with five to go. As a team, Mitchell went 21-for-27 from the free throw line in the contest. Bay Path shot only 8-for-21 from the charity stripe.

Bay Path returns to action at Daniel Webster College on Monday, January 16 at 6 p.m. Mitchell will next host Lesley University on Tuesday, January 17 at 5 p.m.

Men's Basketball: Wheelock 72, Mitchell 52

Senior point guard Kyle Pierce (Burlington, MA) netted 16 points and was one of five Wheelock College men’s basketball players to net double-digits in a 72-52 victory over visiting Mitchell College in a New England Collegiate Conference contest this afternoon at Brunelli Court on the campus of Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, MA.  The Wildcats improve to 5-8 overall and 3-2 in NECC play, while the Mariners fall to 5-6 and 3-2.

Wheelock forced Mitchell to commit 21 turnovers and held a 19-7 advantage in points scored off turnovers.

The Mariners sailed out to an early 6-1 lead and maintained a 9-4 margin with 14:44 to play in the opening half, before the Wildcats reeled off eight straight points, keyed by three-pointers from sophomore guard Bunky Williams (Miami, FL) and senior guard Victor Kashouh (Providence, RI), to take a 12-9 lead.  Wheelock did not relinquish the lead for the final 34 minutes of action. 

Mitchell later cut the deficit to a point following a layup from sophomore forward Joshua Ford (Jersey City, NJ) to make it 14-13 with 11:26 showing in the first half, but the Wildcats responded with a 15-4 stretch to take their largest lead of the half at 29-17 with 5:20 to go in the period.  The Mariners got no closer than within seven points for the rest of the half, before Wheelock took a 33-24 cushion into the break. 

Senior forward Jeff Gomez (New London, CT) converted a layup less than two minutes into the second stanza to pull Mitchell to within 33-28, but the Wildcats broke the contest open with a 13-5 burst, paced by seven points from Pierce, to take a 46-33 advantage with 11:14 remaining in the game.  Ford made good on a layup to get the deficit to single digits at 46-38 with just under 10 minutes to play, but a blistering 16-3 run gave Wheelock a comfortable 62-41 lead with 5:37 showing on the second half clock.  The Wildcats led by as many as 23 points before taking a 72-52 victory.

Pierce was 6-11 from the floor and a perfect 4-4 from the line to go with four rebounds and two assists for Wheelock, while senior center Eric Rice (Woburn, MA) dropped in 13 points, including 5-6 from the free throw line and added three boards, two assists and a pair of blocks in 23 minutes of action.  Kashouh finished the day with 12 points on 5-6 from the field, including 2-2 from three-point range in addition to seven rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals.  Junior swingman Bashir Hudson (Jamaica Plain, MA) registered his team-high sixth double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds to go with three steals in 20 minutes off the bench and senior guard Max Kaim (Fort Lauderdale, FL) chipped in with 10 points, four rebounds, two assists, four steals and a blocked shot.

Ford led the Mariners with 14 points and a game-high 13 rebounds to go with three assists, a steal and a block, while Gomez netted 11 points and grabbed two rebounds in 23 minutes of play.  Senior forward Alex Vess (Middletown, CT) contributed with nine points and a steal.

The Wildcats will be in action again on Tuesday when they travel to Weston, Mass. to take on NECC foe Regis College (MA) at 7:30 p.m., while Mitchell is also on the road on the same night, taking on Becker College in Leicester, Mass. at 8:00 p.m.