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WILLIAMSTOWN, MA. - The visiting Bates Bobcats
(13-8, 3-3) halted Williams' five-game win streak en route to
a 72-60 victory at Chandler Gymnasium. Sitting
tied for third with Wesleyan College in the NESCAC standings prior
to tonight's contest, the Ephs (15-6, 4-2) have now been
bumped down to the fifth position having succumbed in their first
conference match up in five games.
The Bates squad attacked the Williams
two-three zone extremely well, using both their touch from behind
the arc and quick passing to their forwards in the paint to keep
the Ephs down and out.
Williams' man-to-man defense did not
fare well either, as Bates' Meg Coffin proved to difficult to
contain inside. Coffin tallied a team-high 22
points on 8-of-11 shooting from the floor. Her
presence on the defensive end was prominent as well, as the Ephs
relied mostly on their outside game for points
tonight.
Down 15-12 with 12:37 to play in the first
half, Williams played their best stretch in the coming minutes and
put together a 10-0 run to take a 22-15 lead with 7:38 on the
clock. Offensive and defensive inconsistency
prevented Williams from keeping their lead, and Bates' Sarah
Barton drained a deep three with a hand in her face to knot the
score at 26 apiece with 4:06 left in the first
frame. Bates would head into the locker room
with a six-point lead, 39-33.
Bates continued to expand their lead and went
ahead by as many as sixteen half way into the second
period. Williams chipped away at the advantage,
coming as close as seven points to the lead at various points in
the final ten minutes of play. The Ephs enjoyed
a 10-1 run to bring the score to 60-53 following back-to-back pull
up three point shots by Mika Peterman. The
comeback was short-lived as slipshod ball movement and poor
offensive movement plagued the Ephs. With 1:40
on the clock, Williams resorted to fouling but a 10-of-15 effort
from the charity stripe by Bates sealed their fate.
Peterman led all scorers with 24 points on
9-of-19 shooting, while Taylor Shea notched her second consecutive
double-double with 13 points and 10 defensive
rebounds. Chessie Jackson chipped in 7 points
and 9 boards.
Val Beckwith tallied 16 points on the night
for Bates, while teammate Sarah Barton added 10
points.
Williams will host Tufts tomorrow at 3:00
p.m. Tufts, currently sporting an 19-1 record,
is ranked fourteenth in the national polls with their only loss
coming at the hands of conference opponent Amherst College.
The Williams women's basketball program
encourages all Eph fans to come out to Chandler this weekend
wearing pink to support the Women's Basketball Coaches
Association Think Pink weekend. Williams is just
one of over 900 schools participating in an initiative to help
raise awareness for breast cancer. Think Pink
t-shirts will be sold for $10 at the entrance to the gym, and any
size donation is welcome. All the proceeds will
be donated to the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.
