Springfield, Mass. – January 22, 2014 - The Springfield College women’s basketball team ended a two-game skid with a 73-58 win over visiting MIT on Wednesday in New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action in Blake Arena.

Springfield was paced by Jaimie Bickelhaupt (Brookfield, Conn.) who picked up her 10th double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds. The junior also had three steals. The Pride had four players scoring in double digit figures. Lexi Windwer (Milton, Mass.) finished with 15 points, Ava Adamopoulos (Ludlow, Mass.) added 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting and Emily Gins (Fort Myers, Fla.) tallied 11 points off the bench for Springfield. Gins also dished out four assists.

MIT was led by Michelle Battipaglia (Katonah, N.Y.) with a team-high 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Sabrina Drammis (Hilton Head Island, S.C.) added 15 points, Mari Kordell (Ijamsville, Md.) finished with seven and Osheiza Otori (Metairie, La.) added six points and six steals.

Springfield improves to 10-7 (6-6, NEWMAC) with the win while MIT falls to 7-10 (4-8, NEWMAC) with the loss.

The Pride came out of the gate to take an early 9-0 lead in the game’s opening minutes, forcing MIT to call timeout. The Engineers went on a 6-2 run out of the timeout, making it an 11-6 game.

Springfield took a 17-8 lead 7:30 into the first half on back-to-back baskets Adamopoulos. Springfield took a 12-point lead, its biggest of the first half on a basket by Gins off a nice feed from Dina Pitsas (Milford, N.H.) with 7:07 left in the half.

MIT cut the lead to just six points with 5:20 to play in the first on a jumper by Drammis, making it a 27-21 game, but the Pride went on an 8-2 run to close out the half, bringing the lead back up to 12. Gins picked up two assists in that span, finding Bickelhaupt in the paint for two quick baskets. Springfield went into the locker room with a 35-23 lead at halftime.

Springfield capitalized on MIT turnovers early on, scoring 12 first half points on eight turnovers by the Engineers.

After leading by 12 at halftime, Springfield never let up, leading by as much as 21 points in the game. Adamopoulos was big for the Pride, scoring nine of her 15 points in the second half. Two early baskets by the freshman put Springfield up 42-31 with 15:59 left to play.

Windwer drained a huge three-pointer off a feed from Danielle Racette (North Adams, Mass.) to give Springfield a 49-33 lead with 13:15 on the clock. Springfield took its biggest lead of the game with 4:22 left to play on a basket by Windwer after an MIT turnover on the other end.

MIT shot 25-of-55 (45.5%) from the field, 2-of-10 (20%) from three and 6-of-7 (85.7%) from the foul line. Springfield shot 32-of-60 (53.3%) on the day, 2-of-6 (33.3%) from three and 7-of-10 (70%) from the foul line.

The Pride had great production from the bench, which contributed 37 points. Springfield tallied 24 assists on 32 baskets, as Andrea Moschetta (Harrison, N.Y.), Heather Lewis (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.), Racette and Gins each dished out four. Alyssa Unikewicz (Portland, Conn.) added three in just four minutes of play.

Both teams will continue conference play on Saturday. The Pride will head to Babson for a 3:00 p.m tip-off while MIT will host Coast Guard at 1:00 p.m.