NORTON, MA- Freshman Jeana Trimboli (Norwalk, CT/Trinity Catholic) scored a Wheaton College season-best 26 points in leading the Lyons to a 67-48 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's basketball victory over Wellesley College on Wednesday night in Emerson Gymnasium.
Avenging its January loss to the Blue while moving into a three-way tie for second in the conference standings with one game to play, Wheaton improved to 15-9 overall and 12-5 in league play. Wellesley fell to 8-14 and 6-11.
Trimboli's 26 included her shooting 10-of-14 from the field and 6-of-10 beyond the three-point stripe, as her season-high-tying six threes fell one short of the 16-year-old program record and matched her own freshman mark. Senior Jenny Champney (Bedford, MA/Bedford) also had a big night, moving into sixth place on the school's all-time scoring list with 19 points, as she now has 1,205. She shot 8-of-12 and grabbed six rebounds. Classmate Andrea Bailey (Needham, MA/Needham) handed out 10 assists, pulled down five boards and had three steals.
For Wellesley, freshman Becca Kimball (Weston, MA/Weston) finished with 14 points and three steals, while classmate Malia Maier (Torrance, CA/Palos Verdes Estates) added 11 points, five rebounds and a pair of blocks.
Wheaton set the tone early with 13 of the game's first 15 points, as Champney and Trimboli combined for 11 of them. Wellesley twice brought the game to six points, including trailing 20-14 with less than nine minutes remaining in the opening stanza, before the Lyons scored seven unanswered over 1:59 to lead 27-14 at 6:55. After the Blue scored the next five points, Wheaton went on a 12-0 run that bridged halftime. Trimboli's triple with 2:59 to go made the score 31-19, as she and Champney combined to score 26 points by that point, going 11-of-16.
The Lyons closed the first half with 10 straight points while holding Wellesley off the scoreboard for the final 4:17, entering the locker room with a 37-19 advantage. Champney shot 6-of-9 for 13 points with five rebounds, while Trimboli made 5-of-8 and also had 13 markers. Wheaton shot 50.0 percent in the half while holding the Blue to 27.6 percent.
Champney's pair of free throws 18 seconds into the second half put her over the 1,200-point mark for her career while giving her team a 39-19 lead. The visitors trimmed the margin to 15 at 53-38 with 12:42 left before Trimboli's three 34 seconds later triggered an 8-2 run during a minute stretch. Bailey's lay-in at 11:08 staked Wheaton to a 61-40 advantage, the first of four 21-point leads, as Wellesley got no closer than 19 the rest of the way.
Wheaton wraps up its regular season on Saturday at league rival Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) at 1:00 p.m.