Worcester, MA- Massachusetts Institute of Technology paid Worcester State University a visit tonight for a Thursday-night women's basketball matchup. The Lancers went 4-3 in November, and came into tonight's December 1st battle on the heels of a two-game win streak. The Engineers went just 1-4 in November, with their lone win coming against the Lancers' conference foes Westfield State.
Erin Gallella (senior; Tewksbury, Mass.) got the scoring started with a three-pointer in the opening minutes, which set the pace for a high-scoring and tightly contested opening quarter. The Lancers held a 16-14 lead when the first quarter came to a close, a lead attained in no small part to sophomore Abby St. Martin (Putnam, Conn.), who came off the bench to hit a couple of key jump shots.
The Lancers came into the second quarter with a head of steam and controlled the remainder of the half. A layup as the shot clock expired from graduate student Sarah Blomgren (Lunenburg, Mass.) capped off the impressive second-quarter offensive explosion and put Worcester State ahead of MIT by a then game-best 11 points. The Lancers led by a score of 34-23 at the half.
Worcester State had no intention of taking their foot off the gas in the third quarter, continuing to pile it on the Engineers for the first part of the third. Gallella again made her presence known, with an offensive rebound and put back for two, followed by a big three on the following possession. At one point the Lancers stretched the lead to 14, but MIT started to gain some momentum in the closing moments towards the end of the quarter, pulling the score to 51-45 at the end of the third.
MIT would come all the way back in the fourth, tying it up at 63 with a little over three minutes to go, then again at 68 with 40 seconds remaining, and a third time at 70 with 1.5 seconds left in regulation. Throughout the final three minutes, the Lancers and Engineers traded threes, and-ones and key jumpshots. MIT was able to force the game to overtime despite ever leading during the 40 minutes of regulation.
Unfortunately for the Lancers, MIT found their stride in the five-minute overtime period, picking up that elusive first lead of the game on their first possession. Though Worcester State kept it close, the Engineers did not fall behind again and were able to escape Worcester with a 82-77 victory.
The loss brings Worcester State to 4-4 on the young season, and gives MIT their second win of the season as their record now sits at 2-4. The Lancers will look to bounce back next Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. in their final home game of the calendar year.