Box Score
AMHERST, MA. – After a season of ups and
downs, injuries and setbacks, a win on Amherst's home floor
would surely have tasted sweet for the Williams women's
basketball team (8-15, 3-5 in the NESCAC) and made up for a season
marred by some disappointing results. The Ephs
played toe to toe with the NESCAC's top competition for forty
minutes before relinquishing the lead at the 3:31 mark, and
tapering off offensively in the final minutes to fall prey to the
rival Lord Jeffs (21-1, 7-1), 66-61.
The Ephs came out energetic and ready to play
in the first half, taking a 10-4 lead in the opening five minutes
of play. As the half
progressed, Amherst would creep back to within four before the hot
hand of Jill Greenberg sprung into action. The
Ephs point guard scored a three to give the Ephs a seven point
advantage at 23-16.
A lay up by Greenberg and a pair of Taylor
Shea free throws gave the Ephs their largest lead in the half of
eleven points.
Greenberg finished the night with 21 points, while Shea was one
point shy of a double-double with 9 points and 12 boards.
Referring to Greenberg's play, Manning
said, “I think overall she played a great game. It was a high
intensity, fast paced, game and to play for that long was really
something. Her effort was tremendous on both ends of the floor, at
the end she may have been tired, but overall it was her best
shooting night, and she elevated her game.”
Amherst countered with seven unanswered points
to close within one, but Williams responded once again with an
unchallenged seven point run of their own, with 5 points coming
from Greenberg and a lay up by Shea. The
flip-flopping continued as Amherst proceeded to score the next
seven points to close the half behind by one at 34-33, including a
pair of silly fouls by the Ephs that gave their opponents four free
points from the line.
The Ephs continued to maintain a five-to-seven
point lead for the first ten minutes of the second period before
Amherst began to find their shooting rhythm and tied the game for
the first time at the
11:00 minute mark, 47-47. Williams staved off
their opponents for as long as possible, but Amherst finally
claimed their first lead at 3:31 with a lay up by Jaclyn
Daignault.
The Lord Jeffs scored three consecutive lay
ups for a 60-54 lead.
The Ephs resorted to fouling to slow play, and they got their
chances when two Amherst players missed the front end of the one
and one from the line. Williams couldn't
grab the rebound on the first miss, and on the next Amherst trip to
the line, Greenberg nailed a three on the other end to narrow the
Amherst lead to three with 33 seconds on the
clock. The Lord Jeffs landed in the double bonus
and iced the game from the line, shooting 79% from the charity
stripe.
“It was our best effort, and the best
we've played since the Wesleyan game at home where we played
forty complete minutes of basketball,” said Ephs head coach
Pat Manning.
Despite the loss, Manning believes that the
way the Ephs played against the #9 ranked team in the nation was
more important than the result.
“This is a big step for us, we needed
this,” continued Manning. “There are
games that can be defining games, and this made us realize what we
are capable of. We
made them [Amherst] take really tough shots to beat us, and the
bottom line was they rebounded better than we did, and that hurt us
in the end.”
Williams and Amherst were even in most
categories, except for rebounding and bench
points. Although the Ephs bench contributed
solid minutes on the floor, they managed to score only 10 points,
while the Lord Jeffs players came off the bench to score 45
points. Amherst out
rebounded the Ephs, 43-36.
Amherst was led by Daigneault who scored 21
points and tallied 13 rebounds. Shannon Finucane
added 14 points, and Courtney Long notched 10 points.
Williams will return home to host Trinity
tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.
Tomorrow is Senior Day, and the three Williams tri-captains- Mika
Peterman, Patricia Ludwig, and Lindsay Millert will be honored.
The Ephs will be hosting the Pink Zone day in
support of cancer, and donations will go to the Kay Yow
Foundation. T-shirts
are on sale for $10, and all fans are encouraged to wear pink.
