Senior LaShawnda Wilson led all scorers finishing with 21 points in NEC's win over Wentworth on Saturday.
Pilgrims finish season with big win
New England College’s LaShawnda Wilson (Burlington, Vt.) scored a career-high 21 points leading the Pilgrims past the visiting Wentworth Institute of Technology Leopards 60-52 Saturday afternoon. With the win the Pilgrims finish the season with an overall record of 10-14 and a conference record of 4-9. With the loss the Leopards finish their season with an overall record of 5-20 and a record of 3-10 in conference play.
The Pilgrims would open the game on a 15-4 run taking the early 11 point lead just over five minutes into the game. The Leopards would battle back cutting the Pilgrim lead to just nine points with 5:59 remaining in the half. NEC’s Wilson would answer hitting back-to-back jumpers putting the Pilgrims back up 15. The Wentworth offense would respond late in the half as the Leopards would close the gap to just ten points, trailing 24-34 heading into halftime.
Wentworth would continue to chip away throughout the opening minutes of the second half down just 37-43 with 12:56 remaining in regulation. The two teams would exchange buckets throughout much of the half before Wentworth would hit back-to-back layups cutting the NEC lead to just four points with 1:40 remaining. The Pilgrims would respond as they would convert on their foul shots and outscore the Leopards 7-3 in the final minutes to capture the 60-52 victory.
NEC’s LaShawnda Wilson finished with 11 rebounds to go with her game-high 21 points. Senior guard Ashley Hutton (Lebanon, N.H.) was the only other Pilgrim in double-figures scoring 15 points and Katie Plankey (Columbia, Conn.) chipped in eight points.
Leading the way for Wentworth was Kirsten Vallone (Avon, N.Y.) who finished with a team-high 17 points and 11 rebounds. Wentworth’s Michelle Fauci (Boxford, Mass.) scored 10 points and Jessica Coffey (Wakefield, R.I.) chipped in nine points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Leopards.
