The women’s basketball team defeated Babson College 66-52 in a one-sided game on Wednesday night.

Emerson took control by never trailing the Beavers in the game. The Lions jumped out to a quick 4-2 lead and maintained it until the end of the quarter. The Lions held a 22-14 advantage going into the second quarter.

Emerson continued to control the game with a 40-26 lead at the half by shooting 57 percent from the field and 53 percent behind the arc. 

The pace of the second half started much slower than the first. Foul trouble led to an increase in bench minutes for the Lions, forcing the starters to sit out. The Lions were already down a starter coming into the game as junior guard Natalie Clydesdale was in Atlanta covering the Super Bowl. The bench players contributed significant minutes and points.

In a post-game interview, head coach Bill Gould said the depth of the bench allowed the team to pull off the win.

“It’s just everybody doing their little part whenever they can,” Gould said. “We have a deep team.”

The Lions scored 40 points in the first half but put up only 26 in the second.

Gould said the team won because of their strong defense.

“I think they just really followed the defensive game plan really really well,” Gould said. “I think the biggest thing for us overall was the level of intensity they played with.”

Junior guard Quinn Madden led the team with 13 points and 13 rebounds in a double-double effort.

The win over Babson marked the team’s sixth conference win, and the twelfth game overall, out of 20 played. Prior to the game, Babson ranked No. 1 in the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference with a record of 10-1.

The Lions will play No. 8 ranked NEWMAC opponent United States Coast Guard Academy on Saturday, Feb. 2 at 1 p.m.