Springfield, Mass. – January 27, 2024 – The Springfield College women's basketball team pumped in 33 points in the fourth quarter to pull away for a 79-56 victory over Wheaton on Saturday afternoon in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) tilt inside Blake Arena.

Springfield pushed its record to 15-4, 4-1 against conference foes, while Wheaton dipped to 9-10, 1-4. 

Jaelen Daubon (Hyde Park, N.Y.) netted a career-best 24 points on 8-of-11 shooting, while Rachel Vinton (Holden, Mass.) chipped in 20 points, including four three-pointers, to go along with eight rebounds, five assists, and three steals. Angela Czeremcha (West Springfield, Mass.) pulled in a game-high 12 rebounds and added eight points, four steals, and three assists.  For the game, Springfield owned a 34-12 edge in paint scoring and turned 22 Wheaton turnovers into 33 points.

The visiting Lyons were paced by 14 points from Madeline Duwe, while its bench produced 25 of its 56 points, highlighted by eight from Maddie Mueller.   
 
The Pride would struggle offensively in the opening quarter as it shot just 5-of-17 (29%) from the floor.  Wheaton would gain a 10-6 edge with 3:38 left in the frame on a Duwe jumper, only to have the Pride answer back with a 5-0 burst to take an 11-10 edge off a bucket from Lindsey Laughlan (Ellington, Conn.).  However, the visitors would close out the period with the 6-0 run in the final two-plus minutes to own a 16-11 lead in a quarter where they outrebounded Springfield by a 14-6 margin.
 
Springfield would score the first 10 points of the second quarter to regain a 21-16 advantage when Vinton got free on a backdoor cut for an inside finish with 6:16 left in the first.  The visitors would score for the first time in the quarter with 5:29 on the on a Mueller layup, only to have back-to-back triples from Kassidy Carrano (West Haven, Conn.) allow Springfield's lead to grow to 28-20 at the 2:38 mark.  Springfield would lead 28-22 at the break as eight Pride players had at least two points.

Wheaton got as close as six points in the third, at 38-32, but VInton responded with a trifecta to kickstart a quarter-ending 8-2 surge to help take the hosts into the fourth with a 46-34 lead.  There was no shortage of offense in the fourth quarter as the teams combined for 55 points.  Springfield poured on a 14-3 burst in the opening 3:04 of the quarter as it made all six of its field goal attempts to have its lead balloon to 60-38 on a Daubon bucket in the paint.  The Pride would shoot 72% from the floor in the final 10 minutes of action, with Vinton and Daubon combining for 23 points, to help the Pride to the conference win. 
 
Springfield hits the road to play Mount Holyoke on Wednesday for a 7 pm tipoff.

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