CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Dec. 29, 2015) – Following a 12-day layoff, the Drew University women's basketball team returned to action with a road trip to New England, where they dropped a 66-52 decision to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (6-3) on Tuesday afternoon.
 
A consistent force all season, senior forward Courtney Stephens led the way for the Rangers (5-5) with her second straight double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds, giving the co-captain her 16^th career double-double. Stephens stuffed the stat sheet with two assists, a steal and a block in the setback. Junior guard Hannah Miller netted 10, while junior forward Ryan Jackson tossed in nine on efficient 4-of-5 shooting.
 
With 17 points against MIT, Stephens has now totaled 971 points in her career, leaving her 29 away from joining the 1,000 Point Club at Drew University.
 
After the missing the vast majority of the previous two contests, Miller returned to the court on Tuesday and got her first buckets out of the way quickly on a three-pointer and a pair of free throws to give Drew an early 5-4 lead. Sophomore Michaela Keegan netted six of the next eight points for Drew, who stayed close with the Engineers thanks to crisp passes finding open jump shots and layups.
 
Drew's final lead would come at 17-16 with 6:45 remaining in the second after a Stephens' basket, but from there MIT used a 12-2 run to take a 28-19 lead. Drew responded with a quick 6-0 run of its own to stay within reach of the Engineers, but the momentum could not be stopped as MIT scored the next eight points bridging the second and third periods. Two clean jumpers from the key by Jackson and a personal 4-0 run by Sam Lane had the Rangers within 10 early in the third period.
 
Miller and freshman Hailey Stine hit a pair of triples to keep the deficit around 10, but the Engineers were unrelenting and eventually took a 54-39 advantage into the final period.
 
With the Engineers up by as many as 18 in the fourth, Stephens led a comeback attempt with a personal 7-0 run, which included a three-point play. She sank that free throw as part of a perfect 9-of-9 mark free throw shooting from the Rangers on Tuesday. However, two more free throws from Stine is all Drew would muster down the stretch as MIT protected its home court by a final score of 66-52.
 
Glaring differences on that stat sheet included MIT's 52% shooting percentage to Drew's 36%, and a 35-26 advantage in rebounding for the Engineers. Sabrina Drammis led MIT with 21 points on 10-of-16 shooting.
 
The Rangers start the trip back down the East Coast, stopping in Troy, N.Y. on Wednesday for a 2:00 p.m. tilt at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Landmark Conference play resumes on Saturday, Jan. 2 at Juniata College at 4:00 p.m.