Lyons suffer 71-64 setback to visiting non-conference foe Fitchburg State

November 30, 2006

NORTON, MA- The Wheaton College women's basketball team trailed throughout Thursday night's second half against Fitchburg State College en route to a 71-64 non-conference loss at Emerson Gymnasium. The Lyons fall to 2-3 on the young season, while Fitchburg State collected its fourth straight win to improve to 4-1.

Wheaton jumped out to a 5-2 lead thanks to a three from senior Samara Audet (Derry, NH/Trinity) at 18:32, but the Falcons responded with a 12-0 run over 4:53 to take an advantage that was not relinquished. Senior D'yana Delpero (Peabody, MA/Peabody) spearheaded the effort with a pair of threes and a lay-up. The Falcons led by as many as 10 midway through the stanza, but the Lyons managed to whittle the deficit to two on a pair of occasions, including 30-28 following a trey by sophomore Krystin Hickey (Manchester, NH/New Hampton School) with 19 ticks on the clock. A Delpero three finished the first-half scoring.

Hickey helped Wheaton narrow the gap to one in the second stanza with a lay-up at the 15:27 mark, but the visitors rattled off 10 straight points and held a 51-40 advantage with 12:47 remaining. With Fitchburg State pushing its advantage out to 58-44 at 9:42, the Lyons eventually cut their deficit to five with 23 seconds to play. Forced to foul, Wheaton ended up putting Delpero on the line with 14 seconds left, and she sank both to put the game out of reach. The Falcons knocked down 13-of-19 free throw attempts in the second half alone.

Fitchburg State forced 26 turnovers and collected 14 steals in the game, while the Blue and White held a 35-29 rebounding advantage. Despite Wheaton making one more field goal than the Falcons, the point differential came at the free throw and three-point lines, as Fitchburg State canned 17 foul shots and eight threes compared to 12 and four, respectively, for the Lyons.

Audet paced three Wheaton double-figure scorers with 18 points after shooting 7-of-10 from the field and 3-of-6 from three-point territory. Hickey finished with 16 points, while senior Kim McCormack (Milton, MA/Milton) nearly recorded a double-double performance with 12 points and nine rebounds. Freshman Jenny Champney (Bedford, MA/Bedford) turned in six points and seven boards in 14 minutes off the bench.

For Fitchburg State, Delpero paced all scorers with 23 points on 8-of-15 shooting, including a 5-of-9 showing from beyond the arc. Freshman Krystle O'Brien (Malden, MA/Malden) totaled 12 points and a game-best four assists, junior Diana Doyle (Springfield, MA/Cathedral) had 11 points, and sophomore Steph Payette (Townsend, MA/North Middlesex Regional) accounted for 10 rebounds.

The Lyons are back in action this Saturday for the third contest of their five-game homestand when they host Hartwick College in a non-conference game at 3:00 p.m.

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