WELLESLEY, Mass. – After building a 20-point lead, Wellesley College basketball survived a late scare to win 70-63 in its return to Dorothy Towne Fieldhouse versus Regis College on Wednesday afternoon.

Junior Trinity Barrow (Evans, Ga.) and sophomore Ava Shane (Plano, Texas) both supplied 19 points for the Blue (5-7). Barrow collected a career-high 14 rebounds, dished out five assists and earned two steals to tie for fifth in program history in career steals (181). Sophomore Stacy Chen (Minneapolis, Minn.) added 16 points with four steals while classmate Proud Techarunchaikul (Bangkok, Thailand) scored 12. Wellesley shot 26-55 (47.3%) as a team and went 17-of-21 (81.0%) at the charity stripe.

The leader in points, rebounds and steals for the Pride (3-10) was senior Madi Zancan (Cumberland, R.I.) with 18 points, 13 rebounds and four steals. Senior Jordan Striggles (Raynham, Mass.) and junior Jillian Perry (Melrose, Mass.) both notched a dozen points.

A pair of early triples from Regis senior Emma Pollini (Derry, N.H.) put the visitors up 10-3 early on. Wellesley struck back with a 6-0 run featuring two layups by Shane. The Blue briefly held the lead at 13-12 but a late deep ball gave Regis an 18-15 edge after 10 minutes of action.

The Pride lead swelled to 26-19 two minutes into the second quarter. The Blue came back with a vengeance over the next five and a half minutes, exploding for 14 unanswered points to go up 33-26. Barrow, Chen, Shane and Agarwal all supplied a steady pace of points and defense. By the end of the half, the hosts had built up a 38-30 advantage.

Wellesley's dominance continued into the third, outscoring the Pride 18-2 over the opening seven and a half minutes of the third period. Chen, Barrow and Shane all had at least four points during this period, helping the lead expand to 56-32. Regis cut the deficit to 20 by the end of the frame, trailing 59-39 with three quarters in the books.

Despite the heavy disadvantage, the visitors refused to concede. Regis chipped away at the score with a 18-2 stretch including several Zancan and Perry baskets. With 3:32 on the clock the scoreline read 61-57 Wellesley. 

A jumper by Agarwal, a layup from Shane and made free throws courtesy of Chen stopped the comeback effort. Though the Pride got back within four points with 33 seconds left on a Zancan layup, that would be as close as it would get, with Shane hitting foul shots to close out the game.

It's a quick turnaround for the Blue. The team hosts Dean College tomorrow at 2:00 PM. The Pride head home to host Albertus Magnus College in GNAC competition on Saturday, January 10 at 1:00 PM.