Women's Basketball Engineers Comeback over MIT

WORCESTER, Mass. - The Worcester State University women's basketball team erased an eight-point fourth quarter deficit on Wednesday evening to defeat MIT 62-59 in non-conference action at John P. Brissette Court.

With the win, Worcester State improves to 5-4 overall on the season, while the Engineers fall to 1-6.

The teams battled back and forth in a tightly contested opening half, which featured 13 lead changes and three ties. Worcester State freshman Charlotte MacMillan (Brunswick, Maine) led all players with nine first half points, while Christina Antonakakis and Jocelyn Luizzi each had eight for MIT. The hosts took a narrow 27-26 lead into the locker room.

MIT outscored Worcester State 18-15 in the third quarter to take a slim 44-42 lead to the fourth, before back-to-back threes from Annika Sougstad and Luizzi gave the Engineers their largest lead of the game at 50-42 just over a minute into the quarter.

As has been a trend for the Lancers this season, Worcester State wouldn't go down quietly however. With her team trailing by four with under three minutes to play, MacMillan hit the first of three consecutive triples, which included the go-ahead bucket with 48 seconds to play. Junior Colleen Cutting (Auburn, Mass.) hit a pair of clutch free throws with 7.6 seconds remaining to seal the deal, and the Lancers snuck away with the key victory.

MacMillan was red hot in the contest, knocking down seven threes on 14 attempts to finish with a game-high 21 points. Senior Mya Mosley (Worcester, Mass.) was the only other Lancer in double figures offensively, scoring 12 points off the bench for the hosts. Senior Catherine Sweeney (Lowell, Mass.) had a strong showing at both ends of the floor, finishing with seven points, 11 rebounds, and six assists. Antonakakis was the leading scorer for MIT, pouring in 15 points.

Worcester State will be off until Tuesday, when they play their final game of 2019 at home against Springfield College. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m.

#WooWBB