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WILLIAMSTOWN, MA. – With the game knotted at 57 points
apiece, Williams junior Chessie Jackson and first-year Claire
Baecher teamed up for a perfect give and go play on the final
offensive possession of the game to defeat the
11th-ranked Tufts Jumbos (12-2, 0-1 in the NESCAC),
59-57.
Baecher ended up in a trap in the corner, but
using her 6'3” frame, she managed to pass the ball to
Jackson on the left wing. Jackson found her
teammate running along the baseline for a back door
pass. Baacher finished with a reverse lay up
with 0.7 seconds left on the clock for the winning
basket. Williams (12-4, 1-0) halted Tufts
12-game win streak, and tallied its first conference win and first
victory over a ranked opponent this season.
In the first half, Tufts seemed unprepared to
handle the defensive intensity that Williams brought to the court.
The Ephs o
pened the game on an 8-0 run, as Tufts could not buy a basket on
their end of the floor. The Jumbos scored their
first field goal after 7:13 had ticked off the
clock. Julia Baily shot a successful jumper from
the right elbow to bring the score to 12-6.
Williams continued to keep Tufts off the
scoreboard as the first half progressed. The
Ephs led by as many sixteen points at 27-11 with 6:00 on the clock,
but the Jumbos narrowed the margin to thirteen points at the break
and headed to the locker room down 31-18 to the home
team.
The Ephs kept Tufts to just five field goals
in the first half, as the Jumbos shot 17.9 percent from the
floor.
Williams was dominant on the glass in the opening twenty minutes as
well, out rebounding the Jumbos 26-17.
“Our defense was great in the first
half,” said Williams' head coach Pat
Manning. “We were able to build
momentum. Tufts is a
tough team and can come back at any time. They
have very explosive players, and there was a stretch in the second
half where we became a little tentative.”
Tufts came out of the break a different team,
and charged back into contention almost
immediately. Colleen Hart began to get hot from
behind the arc for the Jumbos, and she nailed a three to bring her
squad within four points of the lead at 40-36 with 13:42 to
play. Hart would
drain another three-pointer to get within three points just two
minutes later. She
would finish the night shooting 5-of-8 from three-point
range.
The Jumbos continued to inch their way to the
lead. Lindsay Weiner
scored a runner in the lane, bringing the tally to 44-43 at the
mid-way point of the second period. Hart scored
a three-pointer at the top of the key to tie the game at 46 apiece
with 7:30 left in regulation. Tufts managed to
tie the game, but never took the lead as the Ephs continued to
score in the critical moments.
The game became a back-and-forth contest for
the next five minutes. Ahead 52-50 with four
minutes to play, Williams made a defensive stop on Tufts next
possession that swung momentum back in their
favor. Jill Greenberg had a pull up jumper for
the Ephs to bring the lead to four, while Chessie Jackson scored
with a strong post move on the Ephs' following offensive
possession to give Williams a 6-point lead with 2:38 on the clock.
Tufts called a timeout to
regroup. The Jumbos forced a turnover and scored
to bring the score to 56-52, but committed a foul in the paint to
put the Ephs on the line. Lisa Jaris made the
back end of her free throws to give the Ephs a 57-52 advantage with
1:28 to play. The
Ephs forced a shot clock violation by Tufts, and looked to be
headed for the win.
Williams struggled in the final minute at the
line. Both Greenberg
and Jaris went to the charity stripe but couldn't connect on
the front end of the one-and-one. Tufts was
fouled on their next possession, and was successful on both their
free throws to bring the score to 57-54. Hart
nailed another three to tie the game once more at 57-57 as Williams
turned the ball over.
Despite being shaky from the line and turning
the ball over on the previous possession, the Ephs remained
collected under pressure in the final seconds as Baecher scored to
give the Ephs the win.
“Claire's last shot was
great,” said Manning. “But she had
done a lot of things before that that made her presence known on
the defensive end as well. Lisa and Chessie were
a huge difference inside tonight. Overall, we
had a consistent forty-minute defensive effort
tonight. This was the win we have been waiting
for all season long. We played a really tough
schedule to prepare for conference play like tonight.”
Hart finished the game with a game-high 20
points for the Jumbos. Julia Baily added 14
points, while Tiffany Kornegay contributed 9 points and 7 boards.
Chessie Jackson led all Ephs scorers with 16
points and 6 rebounds. Lisa Jaris scored 15
points and grabbed 6 boards, while Jill Greenberg was strong with
10 points. Claire
Baecher added 8 points, 6 boards, and 2 blocks.
Williams will look to build off this win
tomorrow against Bates. Game time is set for
2:00 p.m. in Chandler Gymnasium.
