LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Senior Ashton Reid (Los Angeles, Calif.) scored a game-high 16 points to help pace the Occidental College women's basketball team to a 50-42 win over Wentworth Institute of Technology on the second day of the 2014 D3Hoops.com Classic.
With the win the Tigers pick up their first win of the season and improve to 1-7 on the season while the Leopards fall to 3-7.
Both teams struggled out of the gate as it was a junior Rachael Camara (Fall River, Mass.) basket 1:58 into the contest that finally broke the ice. That basket was the first of six consecutive Wentworth points with Camara hitting two free throws and junior Carly Rogers (Scarborough, Maine) making a jumper.
Occidental went without a field goal for the first 4:57 until a Reid layup made it 6-4. Baskets by sophomore Kellie Messer (Brookline, N.H.) and freshman Riselly Deoleo (Manchester, N.H.) made it 10-4 with 14:06 before Occidental used an 11-2 run and took a 15-12 lead on an Ashton layup with 10:48 to play.
The Tigers upped their lead to 23-12 with 2:38 to play on a pair of senior Eda Graham (Ojai, Calif.) free throws and freshman Haley Sabino (Topsfield, Mass.) converted a three-point play with 2:24 left to snap a 9:12 scoreless drought for the Black & Gold.
Freshman Grace Baranowski (Tucson, Ariz.) made a layup with 51 ticks left in the half to push the Tiger lead back to double figures, however Sabino scored the final four points of the half to make it a 25-19 contest at the break.
Scoring six of the first eight points in the second half – four by Deoleo and two by Sabino – Wentworth closed the gap to two with 17:26 left. A minute and 46 seconds later, Camara converted a layup to tie the game at 27-all.
Sophomore Tiffany Kho (Monterey Park, Calif.) hit a jumper and Ashton drained a three-pointer to put Occidental up by five and the Tigers would increase their lead to eight (36-28) on a Baranowski layup with 11:39 left.
Camara hit a three – ending a scoreless drought of 5:23 – with 10:17 left to make it a five-point game (36-31) before Occidental scored the next four points to push the lead back to nine. The Tigers built a double-digit lead (46-35) with 2:54 remaining and would lead by as many as 13 with 1:26 remaining.
Reid also had four rebounds and a pair of steals in the win. Kho finished with 10 points, four assists, and three steals. Baranowski and freshman Triana Anderson (San Francisco, Calif.) finished with eight points apiece.
Sabino led the Leopards with a career-high 13 points to go along with four rebounds. Camara added 11 points, eight rebounds, and two steals, and Deoleo had 10 points, five rebounds, and three steals. Rogers, who had six points and six rebounds, was named to the all-tournament team.
Wentworth resumes Commonwealth Coast Conference play on Tuesday, January 6, when the Leopards host defending CCC Champion the University of New England.
