The Middlebury women's basketball team returned to Pepin Gymnasium for the first time in 42 days on Tuesday, picking up a 62-56 victory over the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Alexa Mustafaj led all scorers with 20 points, while Augusta Dixon grabbed her 700th career rebound.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Middlebury tallied the first two baskets of the game as Kale Tornwini and Mustafaj made consecutive layups for a 4-0 edge just over a minute into the contest.
• A back-and-forth would ensue after. Two free throws by Keely Baglio were answered by a three-point field goal from Kaya Weiser to knot the score at 10-10 with 2:02 left.
• Mustafaj answered with a driving layup to give the home team a 14-12 lead after one. 
• A jumper by Engineer April Chan swelled into a 10-2 run over nearly six minutes of play, pushing the visitors ahead by six (22-16) at the 4:38 mark.
• The Panthers responded, scoring 12 of the last 14 points for a 27-24 advantage at the half. The span was highlighted by seven points from Tornwini.
• Ahead by just three (29-26) at the 8:59 mark, Middlebury went on a 12-3 run, capped by a layup from Leah Poorman for a decisive 41-29 advantage with 6:49 remaining.
• The Panthers increased the advantage to 49-33 on a bucket by Tornwini.
• MIT responded with 10 of the next 12 points to slice the deficit to single digits (51-43) heading into the fourth.
• The Engineers hung around in the final frame, as consecutive baskets from Kamsi Nwogu cut the Panther advantage to four (59-55) with 39 ticks left. 
• Mustafaj and Emma Kirck secured the game for Middlebury with three makes combined from the charity stripe to seal the 62-56 triumph.

NOTES

• Mustafaj tied her career-best with seven steals.
• Tornwini put together a career outing by besting her previous single-game point total (15) while securing seven rebounds.
• Dixon corralled eight boards on Tuesday, pushing her to the 700 plateau.
• The Panthers tallied 10 or more steals for the third time in the last four contests with 14. 
• Middlebury and MIT met for just the second time in program history. 

The Panthers open up NESCAC play with a weekend doubleheader beginning Friday at 7:00 p.m. against Trinity followed by a Saturday battle with Wesleyan at 3:00 p.m.