The Middlebury women's basketball team fell to Babson (6-1) by a score of 79-62 on the road, Thursday night in the first game of the Williams' Shooting Touch Classic. The Panthers (4-3) take on Cabrini in their fourth game of the week on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. 
 
The Beavers jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter, going on a 12-4 run to start the game with Megan Bauman tallying five points during the opening 5:50. Middlebury chipped away at the deficit, cutting the advantage to five (17-12) on a jumper from Leah Poorman with eight seconds remaining in the opening stanza. 
 
The Panthers got within one (18-17) out of the break, scoring six unanswered points. The rest of the frame went back-and-forth, seeing three lead changes, before a layup from Alexa Mustafaj knotted the game 23-23 with 4:24 left before the half.  Babson had a 6-0 spurt over the ensuing 1:08, taking a 29-23 advantage. Camilla Silk scored a layup with two seconds remaining to give the Beavers a 37-31 lead heading into the break. 
 
Out of the intermission, Middlebury slowly chipped away at the deficit, cutting the lead to one (46-45) on a three from Reagan McDonald at the 4:36 mark. Babson went on a 14-2 run to close out the third and take a 60-47 advantage. 
 
The Beavers lead stretched to as many as 21 points down the stretch en route to the 79-62 win.
 
Mustafaj led Middlebury in scoring with 18 points, while Dixon had 17 points off the bench, with a team-high six rebounds and three steals. 
 
Kelly Walsh paced Babson with 19 points, while Rachel McMenemy recorded a double-double with 13 points and 11 boards. Bauman had 15 points and pulled down nine boards.