WPI got on the scoreboard three seconds after the opening tip when Sarah Doyon nailed a trey. Back-to-back baskets over the next 1:20 helped extend its lead to seven. A three-pointer by Yuan and pair of free throws from Christa Margossian narrowed the gap to two (7-5). Tiffany Madsen extended WPI’s lead with a lay up, but it was quickly answered with one by Kimberly Soo Hoo. WPI totaled 15 unanswered points over the course of five minutes, resulting in a 24-7 advantage. Margossian ended the scoring drought with a put-back at 9:20 while MIT’s defense held WPI scoreless for nearly three minutes. Doyon extended WPI’s lead with a jumper, but MIT was able to close the deficit to 12 points (33-21) at the intermission.
A free throw by Samantha O’Keefe and a trey by Yuan brought MIT within eight at the 17:22 mark. Caitlin Macko returned the advantage to double-digits on a three-pointer one minute later for WPI’s first basket of the second stanza. Another trey by Macko was answered with a three-point play by Yuan, helping maintain the 11-point deficit. Karen Krasko countered with a three-point play of her own, sparking a 10-3 run that resulted in WPI’s largest lead of the night (52-31) with 9:12 left to play. WPI cruised to the win as its advantage never fell below 14 points during the rest of the game.
With three assists, Soo Hoo became the fifth player at MIT to tally 100 assists in a season and the first to accomplish this feat since the 2000-01 season. She also finished the night with nine points. Margossian collected a team-high five rebounds and contributed nine points.
Emily Allietta and Krasko both scored 12 points. Allietta reached the total on 4-of-8 shooting from three-point range while Krasko was 5-of-5 from the floor and sank both of her free throws. Tiffany Madsen grabbed a game-high nine rebounds for WPI.
The next game for MIT will be on Thursday, Feb. 9 at 7:00 p.m. when it hosts Rivier College.