Lady Hawks Outlast Wheelock 55-49

CHESTNUT  HILL, Mass. - The Wheelock women's basketball team rallied from a 17 point deficit to within four, but the comeback fell short as the Wildcats fell to Becker College 55-49 Thursday night in New England Collegiate Conference action.  The Hawks had three players in double-digits including junior Heidi Miller (Sanbornton, NH) who scored a team-high 16 points and grabbed 17 rebounds. Wheelock's Keneisha Milton (Boston, Mass.) led the attack with 15 points and a game-high 18 boards.

The Wildcats trailed by 17 with 7:16 remaining in regulation and finally chiseled the lead down to single digits on a pair of free throws by Senior Sarah Brown (Plainville, Conn.) at the 2:31 mark. Wheelock then forced a Becker turnover and Elise Ordile (Waltham, Mass.) nailed the ten foot jumper to cut the lead to six points. The Hawks' Courtney Fiske(Westfield, Mass.) answered with a crucial three pointer to stretch the lead back to nine points with 1:42 to go. A pair of jumpers by Ordile and a free throw from Milton (Boston, Mass.) over the next minute gave the Wildcats a chance, trailing by four with 42 seconds remaining.

Becker's Heidi Miller (Sanbornton, NH) and Shannon Tibbetts (Warren, Mass.) were perfect from the line in the last 15 seconds to secure the win for Becker, who improves to 7-15 on the season and 7-6 in the NECC. Wheelock falls to 4-17 overall and 3-9 in conference play.

For Becker, Fiske scored 15 points while Tibbetts was also in double-figures with 11 points. Wheelock's Ordile was the only other Wildcat in double-digits with 16 points. Wheelock returns to action Saturday when they travel to Daniel Webster for a 1:00 pm start while Becker hosts Bay Path College next Tuesday at 6:00 pm.