SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (November 234, 2024) – The Western New England women's basketball team recorded their fifth straight win to start the season, being crowned champions of the Hampton Inn Holiday Classic on Sunday afternoon after defeating the Cardinals of Wesleyan University by a final score of 74-67. Emma Kahn, named tournament MVP, scored 19 points for the Golden Bears in the win.

Records:

• Western New England: 5-0
• Wesleyan University: 2-2

How It Happened:

Wesleyan would open the game with the first hoop of the first quarter when Olivia Quinn knocked down a triple to give the Cardinals the early 3-0 lead. Western New England's first field goal would come at the 8:20 mark when Emma Kahn took a pass from Lilly Hedge and came away with a driving layup. Colleen Furlong would follow that up with a tip-in layup after the graduate student grabbed an offensive rebound, which gave the Golden Bears a 4-3 lead. Western New England would go on a 13-0 run to take a 13-3 lead as the blue and gold began to run quick offense that resulted in points. Kahn would drop two free throws and a three-ball, while Emma Novajasky and Shina Cooney would contribute with points that would quickly give the Golden Bears a ten-point lead. Perry Blasetti responded to a Wesleyan three-ball with a layup plus a foul shot that saw WNE take a 16-6 lead after one quarter of play. Wesleyan would go just 2/17 from the floor in the opening quarter, with both of their makes coming from long range. WNE hit five field goals as a team while connecting on one three-ball to lead by ten.

Blasetti and Sophie Hedge came away with the first six points for the Golden Bears to open the second quarter, quickly taking a 22-8 lead. Wesleyan's Alli Jones would record two free throws, finally taking the Cardinals over ten points in the game, though Sophie Hedge would continue to answer with points as the quick offense from WNE would continue to drive by the Cardinals defense. The Hedge duo, Lilly and Sophie, would drop the next six points overall at the 6:13 mark of the second quarter that gave Western New England their largest lead of the game, a 17-point advantage, taking a 32-15 lead. WNE's lead continued to grow when Nora Young put home a layup with 1:58 left in the half that extended Western New England's lead to 20, doubling up Wesleyan 40-20. Emma Kahn would put down a three-ball with 47 seconds remaining, the final hoops of the quarter that saw Western New England lead 45-23 at the end of the first 20 minutes of play in the championship game. Wesleyan continued to struggle from the field in the second, making five field goals, three from distance. The Cardinals were 2/17 from two-point range in the opening half. WNE picked up a 60% second-half shooting percentage.

The Cardinals would open the third quarter with a quick nine points, though Kahn would continue to shoot well from the outside, hitting back-to-back three balls for the Golden Bears. WNE would lead by as many as 25 in the quarter as the game appeared to become a runaway for the Golden Bears. Wesleyan had other thoughts, seeing WNE's lead get down to a 19-point lead by the end of the quarter. The two teams would shoot successfully from the floor in the quarter overall, trading basket for basket. Wesleyan dropped 23 points in the third quarter, which is the total they had after one half of play in the game. Western New England continued to score the rock in the third, putting together 20 points, led by Kahn, who had eight points total. The Cardinals dropped ten field goals in the third, going 2/6 from deep.

Wesleyan would get WNE's lead down to 14 early in the fourth quarter when Chika Oyigbo would get a quick transition bucket that saw the score more to 65-51. Perry Balsetti would respond with a triple on an assist from Sophie Hedge that saw the lead get back up to 17. From there, the Cardinals would make a push to make a comeback, seeing Meghan Kirk earn a tree ball with 3:05 left to play as WNE's 25-point third quarter lead would get down to just eight. Lilly Hedge would execute a driving layup for WNE to give the Golden Bears their ten-point lead back. Late in the game, Wesleyan's Felicia Fongemie, who led the Cardinals in yesterday's win to get to the championship game, would sink a layup inside the paint with 19 seconds left to get the Cardinals back to within four points. Paige Winter would hit two clutch free throws for the Golden Bears, while the Cardinals would not be able to make the comeback after missing their final attempts from the floor, as the Golden Bears would win the Hampton Inn Holiday Classic Championship by a final score of 74-67, winning their first holiday championship in its second year.

Inside the Lines:

• Emma Kahn scored a career high 19 points in the win over Wesleyan, shooting 6/14 overall from the field and 4/8 from deep to lead the way. Kahn had three rebounds and one steal to add to her totals. Kahn was named tournament MVP in the win.
• Shaina Cooney, named to the all-tournament team, had eight points and eight rebounds on the afternoon to help WNE to the championship win.
• Perry Blasetti was 4/5 from the field, recording ten points overall as well as a rebound, an assist, and a steal.
• WNE held the lead for nearly the entire game after Wesleyan took an early 3-0 lead in the game. WNE would respond with a 13-0 run and would never lose the lead following.
• As a team. Western New England shot 40% from the field while hitting six of 16 threes.
• The Golden Bears out-rebounded Wesleyan 53-28 in the game overall.
• Wesleyan's Olivia Quinn had 18 points to lead the way in the game while hitting four threes.
• This is the first victory for WNE in five attempts over Wesleyan, with the last matchup dating back in 2013.

Up Next on the Schedule:

• Following the short break, Western New England returns to the floor for a rare Monday evening contest at 5:30 PM from the Anthony S. Caprio Alumni Healthful Living Center in the first Conference of New England game of the season as Nichols College visits Springfield.