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WILLIAMSTOWN,
MA. – After losing by three points to Western
Connecticut on Thursday, the Williams women's basketball team
was looking to rebound and finish off their last game before winter
break with a quality win.
Hamilton (6-2) came into today's game
riding a six-game win streak, but neither team could find the
basket in the first half as both teams combined for a total of
thirty-six points in the first twenty minutes of
play. Williams (8-2) recovered after the break
to pull ahead in the second half and close out the game, 64-45.
Williams opened up the game with two
three's from Grace Rehnquist and Chessie Jackson. Hamilton
would pull ahead by one at 7-6 with 14:11 left in the half, and the
game remained at that score for nearly six minutes before the
Continentals' Lisa Olszewski broke the offensive
drought.
Hamilton kept Williams scoreless for
9:37. Lisa Jaris
finally put points on the scoreboard once more for the Ephs with a
solid post move in the lane. It was the first
bucket for the Ephs since Jackson scored with 16:10 on the clock.
Jackson regained the lead for the Ephs with a
three-point shot from the top of the key to pull ahead by two with
three minutes left in the half. Danny Rainer
contributed some key minutes of the bench, feeding a ball to Jennie
Harding on a back door court for two and scoring in the paint on
the following possession to bring the Ephs to their first half
total of nineteen.
The two teams headed into the locker room with Williams ahead,
19-17.
Hamilton and Williams were statistically on
par in the opening half. Both teams shot low
percentages form the floor, with the Ephs shooting 25% and Hamilton
shooting 26.9%.
Both squads were solid from the defensive end as well.
“I felt like we were taking good
shots,” said Williams' head coach Pat
Manning. “They just were not
falling. Our intensity was good, and our defense
was good so we felt okay at the half. We held
Hamilton to 17 points and felt like it was only a matter of time
before we started pulling ahead.”
The Ephs transition game was back in full
speed in the second half, and the Ephs used two fast-break lay ups
to build an eight-point lead four minutes out of the break,
29-21. Hamilton
called a timeout to regroup, but Williams quickly shut down their
next possession and Jaris scored on the following offensive
possession to expand the lead to ten.
Hamilton changed to a two-three zone defense
midway through the second half, forcing the Ephs to shoot
more. This half,
Williams was making their shots. The Ephs shot a
much improve 45.9% from the floor, and it allowed them to build a
substantial advantage. Rehnquist would bring the
Ephs lead to their biggest of the night at twenty with two
back-to-back fast break lay ups at the 1:30
mark. Williams won the game with a final score
of 64-45.
“Our defense let us down on Thursday,
and today was good defensively,” continued
Manning. “Chessie played some of the best
post defense I've seen all year. Overall
this is a tough time of the semester with finals, and it's
just one of those weeks. Nothing came easy today
though. We had to
tough it out, and it was a gutsy win for us.”
Rehnquist led all scorers with 21 points for
Williams. Jackson
added 14 points and 7 boards, while Jaris scored a double-double
with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Reisa Asimovic
scored a team-high 17 points for the
Continentals. Eliza Howe and and Madie Harlem
added 9 points a piece, with Harlem grabbing 9
boards.
Williams will take a three week hiatus before
returning to campus to hose the Williams Winter
Classic. The Ephs host Eastern Connecticut State
in the opening round on January 3 at 3:00 p.m. in Chandler
Gymnasium.
