The women's basketball team was very busy during the winter break as they traveled to sunny Florida to play a pair of games versus Florida Southern and Eckerd College. Each of these schools play at the Division II level.
In the first game of the trip, the Engineers faced a strong Florida Southern team. Coach Christa Champion stated that they played well for the first 10 minutes, but couldn't sustain the intensity. WPI lost 97-54. Leading scorers for the Engineers were junior Jenn Lovin (Waterford, CT) and sophomore Kim Landry (Gardner, MA) who each had 11 points.
Two nights later, WPI faced Eckerd College with the hopes of pulling off a split on the trip. The game was close at halftime with WPI trailing 31-28. It was not to be as the Engineers ended up losing 71-55. Senior captain Tricia Pignone (Seneca Falls, NY) led WPI with 11 points and Lovin pulled down 15 rebounds in the game.
Last Thursday, WPI traveled to Hartford, CT to take on undefeated Trinity College while trying to stop the mini skid they were on. Again, the Engineers were close at the half 24-21. In the end Trinity prevailed 73-57. Leading the Engineers was Landry who had 16 points and 12 rebounds on the night.
The men's team is off to a good start in 1995 having won their first two games off the break to increase their current win streak to five games. They played an overtime thriller on the road last Tuesday before coming home to run away with a victory that was broadcast on TV-3.
Last Tuesday, the short handed Engineers made their way to Newport, R.I. to play Salve Regina. WPI was looking to extend their winning streak, but better yet, get things off to a good start in the new year. The Engineers won the game in overtime as junior Chad Hamel (Bethlehem, NH) hit a three point basket with four seconds left in the overtime period for the 98-95 final. The game was sent into the extra session by reserve forward Ray Banks (Nashua, NH) when he hit a three point shot with 18-seconds remaining in regulation. Five Engineer players were in double figures, led by senior captain Chris Dunn (Seekonk, MA) who had 24 points. The other four were sophomore Jeff Cayer (Shelton, CT) with 22, junior Jim Naughton (Dublin, Ireland) had 17, senior captain Scott Ennis (Canterbury, NH) had 12 and sophomore Mike Shannon (Worcester, MA) chipped in 11 to help the cause.
Thursday, WPI hosted cross-town rival Worcester State in a rematch of this year's City Tip Off final. WPI proved superior again as they built a 12-point halftime lead and cruised 86-71. Dunn had another outstanding game as he lit it up for 28 points. He got help from Naughton (17 points, 15 rebounds), Cayer (11 points), Ennis (10 points) and junior Jeff Kijak (Chicopee, MA) who had a strong game at the point as he added 12 points.
Senior James Beardsley (Bangor, ME) recently competed at the Dartmouth Relays in the pentathlon. The pentathlon is made up of high jump, long jump, hurdles, shot put and 1,000-meter run. Out of all the competitors from all Divisions, Beardsley finished 3rd, but within two points of second. Within the Division III ranks, he finished first as he qualified for the New England Championships later in the season. Coach Jim Smith stated that Beardsley is the man to beat in Division III come championship time.
In the meet, Beardsley scored 3,098 points which is 100 points off of his best performance. He was standing in seventh place before the last event, which is the 1,000 meter run.