Saturday, January 21, 2006

WPI Defense Stymies Smith Pioneers

Northampton, MA

Worcester Polytechnic Institute used a tight defense to outlast Smith, 49-33, in New England Women’s and Men’s Conference game this afternoon.  The Engineers of WPI forced 25 Smith turnovers and holding the Pioneers to 30% field goal shooting.   Although the Pioneers held WPI to just nineteen points in the second, they were unable to overcome their own turnovers in route to scoring only 13 points.

WPI was lead by senior guard, Sarah Doyon of Nashua, NH who netted 11 points hitting 3 three-pointers and pulled down 7 rebounds.  Teammate, Meghan Pajanos, added 12 points and 8 rebounds in the winning effort. 

Smith junior, Nati Lenchner, lead the Pioneers with 11 points and 6 rebounds.  Despite a being slowed by a shoulder injury, senior, Shelley Harrison, added four blocks to bring her NEWMAC Conference leading total to 51 blocks.

Smith falls to 5-10 on the season and 0-5 in the NEWMAC.  WPI improves to 10-6 and 4-1 in the NEWMAC for third place.  The Pioneers next action is Tuesday, January 24 at Springfield College.