Gordon Tops Engineers, 61-42

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The MIT women’s basketball team fell to host Gordon College, 61-42, in the opening game of the Gordon College Invitational on Friday. Lauren Sascha Burton recorded a solid performance for the Engineers (0-2), tallying 11 points, seven steals, four assists, and four rebounds in 40 minutes of action.

Kristen Whaley notched a team-high nine rebounds to go along with eight points, all of which came from the free-throw line. Anna Merrifield snagged eight boards as Aparna Sud chipped in seven points. Stephanie Cooke bolstered the Cardinal and Gray’s efforts with five caroms and one steal.

Each side traded baskets to open the contest as a pair of layups from Burton put MIT up, 4-2, at the 17:23 mark. The Fighting Scots responded with 16 unanswered points during the next seven minutes to take control of the game. A free-throw by Whaley ended the Engineers’ scoring drought, but Gordon maintained its comfortable cushion and entered the break with a 34-18 advantage.

MIT opened the second stanza by outscoring the Fighting Scots, 13-8, and trimmed its deficit to 11 (42-31) with 12:47 left to play. This was as close as the Engineers would get as Gordon went on to record 19 of the next 30 points to wrap up the game.

Tech returns to action at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 21 against Philadelphia Biblical University in the consolation game. The meeting will be the first between both programs.