WORCESTER, Mass. --- Elle Fontaine and Serena DuBois combined for 25 points and point guard Natasha Deschene narrowly missed a double-double as WPI defeated visiting Nichols 56-48 in the opening game of Worcester City Tournament.

Fontaine came off the bench to lead all scorers with 13 points on 5-for-9 shooting, including a pair of 3-pointers.  Serena DuBois added 12 points and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the field while Deschene chipped in with nine points and hauled in a career-best nine boards.  She shared game-high rebounding honors with Fontaine and Nichols' Jessica Nelson (North Providence, R.I.).    

WPI's defense held Nichols to 25% shooting in the first half as they established the winning eight-point margin at the break, keyed by late three-pointers by Fontaine and Melissa Kuhn.  After the intermission, the Crimson and Gray turned on the offense, connecting on 11-of-18 (61.1%) of its second half attempts from the floor.

The Engineers bench also made significant contributions to the win, outscoring Nichols' bench 26-7 for the game.

Nichols (1-2) was paced by Nelson, who led the Bison with 13 points and nine rebounds. Senior guard MaryLynn Skarzenski (Woodbridge, N.J.) finished with nine points, five rebounds and five steals, and is currently 12 away from reaching the 1,000 career point milestone.

Trailing by as much as 16 points late in the second half, Nichols clawed its way back on a pair of jumpers from Curtia Humbert (Bridgeport, Conn.) and a three from Margaret Lilly (Ashfield, Mass.), but was only able to slice the lead to eventual final margin of eight.

WPI (1-1) will take on the winner of Clark-Worcester State in the Worcester City Tournament championship game at 4:00pm in Harrington Auditorium. Nichols will take on the loser of Friday's late game in Saturday's consolation game at 2:00pm.

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