MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – Trailing by as many 18 points in the second half, the Wesleyan women's basketball team staged a rally attempt and got to within five points of the lead but were unable to pull off a comeback as the Cardinals were defeated by Middlebury, 59-51, at home on Sunday afternoon. Wesleyan (10-11, 3-5 NESCAC heads into the final week of the regular season in search of a first round home game for the upcoming conference tournament while the Panthers (11-8, 5-2 NESCAC) still have an outside chance at the top seed.
 
Prior to the start of play, head coach Kate Mullen took a few minutes to honor her three Class of 2022 members – Marina Petruzzi '22, Maddie Clark '22 and Caleigh Ryan '22 – as the top three leading scorers for Wesleyan were all playing in their final regular season home game.
 
Ryan stuffed the stat sheet once again, recording her third straight double-double while grabbing 13+ rebounds for the fifth straight game. She finished with 18 points, 13 rebounds (six offensive), two assists, one block and three steals in 34 minutes. Ryan now has eight double-doubles in 21 games this season.
 
Tori DaCosta '25 had an impact on both ends of the floor as she finished with eight points and season-highs in rebounds (13), assists (three) and minutes (31). Clark totaled a career-high six steals to go along with eight points, four rebounds and three assists.
 
Even in defeat, the Cardinals forced Middlebury into 23 turnovers, the most for a Wesleyan opponent all season. The last time Wesleyan forced a NESCAC opponent into 23 turnovers in a single-game came back on January 13, 2018 in a win over Amherst. Wesleyan's 15 steals are a new season-high.
 
Neither side led by more than three points through a majority of the first quarter before Alexa Mustafa hit a runner in transition that made it 14-9 which later became a 18-11 Middlebury advantage. Petruzzi hit a pair of free throws in the closing seconds of the opening frame to make it 18-13 after one.
 
The Panthers grabbed their first double-digit lead around the midway point of the second quarter as Claire Miller cleaned up a Bethany Lucey miss before Mustafa broke free upcourt for an easy layup that made It 26-16 Panthers. Middlebury's lead grew to as many as 13 before two Miller free throws gave the visitors a 33-21 advantage at the break.
 
Not much went right for Wesleyan coming out of halftime as Middlebury rattled off a 13-7 run to take their biggest lead of the game at 46-28 with 5:14 left in the period. However, the Cardinals scored 10 unanswered in just over a minute to suddenly cut the deficit to eight points. Ryan capped the 10-0 run with a three from the wing with just over a minute left.
 
Middlebury still led by 10 heading into the fourth but Wesleyan stepped up their defense, keeping the Cardinals in the game as Ryan again hit from deep to made it 52-46 with 3:52 left to play. Ryan again hit from the wing, this time for two points, and it was 53-48 Panthers with 2:15 left.
 
The Cardinals got two decent looks from behind the arc that would've cut the Panthers lead down to just two points but two straight empty possessions forced Wesleyan into fouling which Middlebury made the most of down the stretch to finish off the victory.
 
Wesleyan heads into a weekend road trip to Maine as the Cardinals finish up the regular season at Colby (Friday 7 PM) and Bowdoin (Sunday 2 PM) before the NESCAC Tournament bracket is announced.