Rayna Zacks Paces Engineers with 14 Points in Loss
The MIT women’s basketball team fell to Wellesley College, 72-37, in NEWMAC action on Saturday afternoon. Wellesley’s (6-6, 2-2 NEWMAC) Laura Weslander tallied a game-high 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting including hitting 3-of-4 from behind the arc. Rayna Zacks notched 14 points and a game-high nine rebounds for the Engineers (1-8, 0-3 NEWMAC).
Catie Romasco put Wellesley on the scoreboard first by sinking three free throws at 16:18. After a three-pointer by Weslander, Samia Majub gave Tech its first points of the game at the 15:29 mark. Both squads went on to trade baskets during the next two minutes, with MIT coming within three points (10-7). Wellesley responded by building up a 14-point advantage before the Engineers narrowed the margin to eight (30-22) with 4:30 remaining in the half. This would be the closest Tech would get, as Wellesley closed out the first half with a 9-0 run. Wellesley shot an amazing 50% (14-of-28) from the field for the second consecutive half.
Holding a 39-22 advantage at halftime, Wellesley tallied six points in the first 1:30 of the second stanza. Rayna Zacks scored MIT’s first basket of the half at the 16:32 mark. Wellesley went on an 11-0 run over the next seven minutes to take a 56-24 lead. Maria Hidalgo ended the scoring drought for the Engineers by sinking a three-pointer on a feed by Andrea Dooley. Hidalgo went on to score the next four points for Tech, finishing with nine on the day. She also logged a game-high five steals and four assists.
For Wellesley, Laura Jasinski notched 11 points and eight boards. Hadley Diest contributed nine points while Sefi Adasi added eight points and eight caroms.
The next game for MIT will be on Tuesday, Jan. 20 at 7:00 p.m. when it hosts Mount Holyoke College in NEWMAC play.