THE BASICS:
 
- Score: MIT 54, Meredith College 39
 
- Records: MIT (5-5); Meredith (1-8)
 
- Location: Gallantin, Tenn. (Welch College)
 
- The Lead: A pair of 8-2 runs in the third quarter helped the MIT women's basketball team pull away from Meredith College and record a 54-39 victory in its first game of the Music City Classic in Nashville, Tennessee on Thursday afternoon. Sophomore Kamsi Nwogu (Algonquin, Ill.) led all players with 15 points while posting seven rebounds and two blocks.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 
- Back-to-back jumpers by first-year Alice Hall (Ambler, Pa.) and graduate student Paula Pieper (Greenville, S.C.) gave MIT an 8-2 lead midway through the first quarter before it went on to hold a 14-8 edge at the end of the frame.
 
- Meredith stayed close as a free throw narrowed the gap to 18-17 with 44 seconds left in the second quarter. During the Engineers' next possession, Pieper drained two free throws and then she knocked down a jumper right before halftime to create a 22-17 lead.
 
- Sparked by first-year Brianna Lebrun's (Hartford, Conn.) put-back, MIT generated an 8-2 run in a three-minute span, which resulted in a 33-21 advantage at the 5:48 mark. The Engineers maintained a comfortable cushion before going on another 8-2 run during the last 2:19 of the frame to go up 46-31.
 
- Both teams scored eight points in the fourth quarter, setting up the 54-39 final score. However, MIT's largest lead was 18 points (52-34) courtesy of first-year Kaya Weiser 's (Villanova, Pa.) jumper with 6:06 on the clock.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
 
- Pieper tallied 12 points, six assists, five rebounds, and four steals as Lebrun produced 12 rebounds, six points, and two blocks. Sophomore Angie Choi (Cypress, Calif.) and Hall registered nine and eight points, respectively.
 
- This was the first meeting between both programs.
 
- MIT led the way in rebounds (41-38), points off turnovers (20-9), and fastbreak points (11-2) while the Quakers had the upper hand in second-chance points (11-8), points in the paint (26-22), and bench scoring (19-12).
 
- The Engineers shot 35.6 percent (21-of-59) from the floor, 20 percent (1-of-5) from three-point range, and 84.6 percent (11-of-13) from the free throw line.
 
- Meredith shot 29.1 percent (16-of-55) from the floor, 50 percent (7-of-14) at the charity stripe, and went 0-of-8 from behind the arc.
 
UP NEXT:
 
- MIT wraps up the Music City Classic against Saint Mary's University (Minnesota) on Friday, Dec. 30 at 3:30 p.m. EST.
 
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