Springfield, Mass. – January 12, 2013 – The Springfield College women’s basketball team fell to visiting MIT, 53-28, in a New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) matchup Saturday afternoon in Blake Arena.

The victory evens MIT’s record to 7-7, 3-5 in conference action. The Pride dropped to 2-12 and are 0-8 in league play.

Maya Ramachandran had a tremendous game for the visitors, posting 12 points and 12 rebounds to go along with six blocks. Mari Kordell added 12 points, and Durva Bhandare notched seven points off the bench. The Engineers were extremely efficient on the offensive side of the ball, shooting 48.7% (19-39), while owning a 39-28 edge on the boards.

Emily Walker finished the afternoon with nine points and seven rebounds for the Pride, while Heather Lewis added eight points. Springfield connected on just 10 of its 54 field goal attempts (18.5%) for the game.

The Pride owned an early 8-6 advantage at the 14:48 mark of the first half on a pair of free throws from Tamara Tribble. The Engineers, who were hampered by six early turnovers, responded with a 7-0 burst to take a 13-8 lead following a Ramachandran layup at the 9:01 mark.

Meghan Bionodlillo answered right back with a deep two to cut it to three, only to have MIT rattle off a 10-2 run over the next 6:25 to own a 23-12 cushion. Lewis heated up in the final 2:04 of the half, tallying six-straight points for Springfield as the teams headed into the half with MIT leading 23-18.

After Walker knocked down a pair from the charity stripe 48 seconds into the second half to make it a three-point game, Kordell buried a three-pointer and then connected on a jumper in the paint to push the lead to 28-20.

Over the next 12:18, MIT poured on a 20-3 run, capped off by a Osheiza Otori three-pointer to own a commanding 48-23 lead. The Engineers defense limited the hosts to just 10 second-half points as they left with a 53-28 conference victory. Kordell had 10 of her 12 points in the second half,

Springfield will return to action on Wednesday evening when it travels to take on Mount Holyoke at 7:00 pm.