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WILLIAMSTOWN,
MA. – Williams women's basketball (11-4)
rebounded from a tough loss against archrival Amherst on Saturday
to pick up a win against their other Little Three foe Wesleyan
(6-6), 73-70, tonight at Chandler Gymnasium. The
win did not come easy for the Ephs, as the Cardinals made a game of
it in the second half after losing an early first half advantage
and trailing at the break by seven.
Wesleyan jumped out to a seven-point lead
early on in the game, as the Cardinals had a hot hand from behind
the arc. With 6:27
left on the clock in the first half, Sam LaCroce nailed a shot from
downtown to bring the Wesleyan lead back up to six after the Ephs
had narrowed it to three. LaCroce was not the
only Cardinal to cause with the long ball.
Teammate McKinley Tennant went 6-of-9 from three-point range.
Williams called a timeout after
LaCroce's shot and narrowed the gap to one after Jennie
Harding hit a three-pointer of her own with 4:44 left in the
half. Chessie Jackson
finally took the lead for the Ephs with 2:54 on the clock at
36-35. The Ephs would
hold onto the lead for the rest of the half.
Grace Rehnquist hit a three with five seconds left to bring the
half-time count to 44-37.
Williams
continued to roll in the second period, scoring the first four
points out of the break to extend their lead to 11
points. Wesleyan countered with an 8-0 run to bring
the lead down to three at 48-45. The game
remained close for the next five minutes, until the Ephs began to
pull away once more and led 65-54 with 5:30 left in
regulation.
After falling behind by as many as eleven
points in the second half, Wesleyan crawled to within five points
of the lead with 2:00 left on the clock. The
Cardinals' Melanie Ferdinand hit a three-pointer to bring the
score to 70-68. Following a
Wesleyan timeout, Williams' Jill Greenberg scored a running
lay up to up the lead back to four.
On the ensuing offensive possession for the
visitor, Lisa Jaris forced a turnover and the game turned to the
free throw line.
Williams went 1-of-3 from the line in the final
minute. The Ephs led 73-70 with seven seconds
remaining in regulation, giving Wesleyan a chance to tie the game
on the final possession. Erin Gold threw up a
shot that nicked the backboard and rolled off the front end of the
rim to give Williams the win.
“I thought we had a good balance and
overall team concept tonight,” commented Williams' head
coach Pat Manning.
“We had better ball movement, and we were taking smarter
shots, which is something that we have been struggling with
lately. Wesleyan is a
tough team that plays good defense, and it is a big win,
considering that momentum had started to shift in the end.”
“I'm happy with the overall effort
and how we kept our composure in the end,” continued
Manning. “In
crunch time, Chessie [Jackson] and Lisa [Jaris] came up big and had
great defensive efforts inside but also put it together on the
offensive end as well.”
Four Ephs starters scored double-digits in
tonight's victory. Jaris led the way with
18 points, while point guard Jill Greenberg followed with 15
points. Chessie
Jackson added 14 points and 9 boards, while Grace Rehnquist
contributed 13 points and 7 rebounds.
Wesleyan's Tennant led all scorers with
23 points, while Ferdinand tallied a double-double with 15 points
and 12 boards.
Teammate Sam LaCroce also added 15 points, while Erin Gold was a
force on the glass with 9 rebounds.
Williams will host Tufts this Friday night at
6:00 p.m. in their first conference game of the season.
