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WILLIAMSTOWN – Five Williams College players scored in
double figures Tuesday night as the Ephs held off Little 3 rival
Wesleyan, 73-68, in the Chandler Gymnasium.
Junior guard Mika Peterman scored 12 of her 18 points in the
second half and first-year Chessie Jackson also netted 18 points
for the Ephs, who improved to 12-5 overall. Lucy Sprung scored a
game-high 32 points in the loss for Wesleyan, which fell to 11-5
overall.
The Ephs will travel to Hartford Friday night for a conference
battle with Trinity College. Tip-off is 7:30 p.m.
Wesleyan led the entire first half and entered the locker room
on a high note – and with a 34-30 lead --when sophomore Kiah
McAndrew-Davis banked in a 35-foot prayer as time expired.
"It was a very frustrating first half because our team defense
wasn't anywhere to be found — we didn't have any help and we
weren't rebounding," Williams head coach Pat Manning said. "In
addition, it seemed like offensively we were trying a lot of
one-on-one stuff instead of moving the ball. We talked about all
three aspects at halftime."
The Ephs did not take their first lead of the night until
Peterman calmly drained a three-pointer with 16:30 remaining in the
second half. Jackson followed 1:11 later with her own trey off a
kickout from Eph senior point guard Niki Savageau.
From there the Ephs slowly took control of the game. Whereas
Wesleyan gained an upper hand by dominating the boards and easily
penetrating the Eph defense for point-blank lay-ups in the first
half, the Williams defense tightened in the second half, especially
on the glass.
More importantly, an Eph offense that looked stagnant and
frustrated in the first half found a way to open things up in the
second, resulting in them hitting 45.7 percent (16 for 35) of their
shots from the floor.
"In the second half we executed everything we talked about at
halftime," Manning said. "We had some strong help defense, we
actively boxed out instead of trying to outjump them for rebounds,
and offensively we were moving the ball and finding the higher
percentage shots."
Peterman upped the Williams lead to 10 with 10:58 remaining when
she hit a running baseline jumper, then followed a three-pointer
from Wesleyan's Ali Fourney with a trey of her own with 9:27
left for a 55-45 advantage.
The Cardinals kept coming and cut the Eph lead to six twice in
the closing minutes on two foul shots from Sprung and a jumper from
Fourney, who finished with 10 points. But Eph first-year Jessica
Harris drained a huge 18-foot jumper from the right corner with
2:24 left, and the Ephs went 8 of 10 from the foul line in the
closing seconds to seal the win.
"I thought it was a gutsy effort," Manning said. "Wesleyan is a
very good team, they're strong and physical. It was a good test for
us and we put together a great second half."
The Ephs received another strong night from Savageau, who
finished with 10 points, seven assists, two steals and two
rebounds. First-year Taylor Shea contributed 15 points and six
rebounds, and Harris posted a double-double with her 10 points and
10 rebounds.
The 32 points by Sprung is the highest by a Wesleyan women's
basketball player since Shaleen Bowman scored 32 vs. Hunter on Nov.
17, 2001. She also collected 15 rebounds on the night.
