January 10, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Carole Grills
(413) 585-2703

Basketball Defeats MIT 54-45 in NEWMAC Opener

Northampton, MA: The Pioneers opened New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action last night with a 54-45 defeat of MIT in Cambridge. Sophomore Berit Schelde (Holstebro, Denmark) tallied a game high 19 points en route to Smith's victory.

In the first twenty minutes of action, Schelde gave the Pioneers a 7-4 lead with a three-pointer at the 17:26 mark.  Smith maintained its lead for the next fifteen minutes and extended it on a 6-0 run to take a 24-14 advantage with 2:35 remaining.  MIT converted a trey to close within seven points but Smith's Lisa Marie Vuono (Lyndhurst, NJ) countered with a basket to give the Pioneers a 26-17 halftime lead.

MIT scored the first basket of the second half but the Pioneers responded with a 19-5 run over the next eleven minutes to go up 45-24.  The Engineers mounted their own attack as they scored 17 of the final 26 points including a 9-1 run during the final four minutes of regulation, but the Pioneers withstood the assault to take their first NEWMAC victory.

Schelde led all  scorers with 19 points on an outstanding shooting performance hitting 8-of-11 from the floor and 2-of-3 from the foul line.  She also paced Smith a team high four assists.  First year Laura Miller (Minneapolis, MN) registered her second double double of the season wtih 15 points and 10 rebounds while teammate Meredith Murelli (Litchfield, CT) added a game high 13 rebounds.

Samia Mahjub tallied 10 points with 10 rebounds and Sally Simpson a team high 14 points in the loss for MIT.

The Pioneers, who improved to 3-7 overall, will travel to Coast Guard on Saturday for a 1 pm NEWMAC contest while MIT(6-5, 0-1) hosts Newbury College on Monday, January 14.