Box
Score
HARTFORD, CT. –
Williams women's basketball (18-6, 7-2 in NESCAC) finished
off their regular season play on a positive note, defeating Trinity
College (15-8, 3-6) in a contested game to the finish,
57-52. The Ephs bounced back following a rough
loss to a highly competitive Amherst squad last night in LeFrak
Gymnasium.
With the win, Williams finishes the NESCAC at
7-2 and is the third-seed in the conference tournament beginning on
Saturday, February 20. Joining Amherst, Colby, and
Tufts as the top four seeds, the Ephs will host a first-round
game. Trinity is the seventh-seed and will face
off against Colby in an away game.
Williams came out of the gates looking solid
early, going up 5-0 in the opening minute off a Chessie Jackson
three-pointer and a lay up inside by Lisa Jaris.
The Ephs led by as many as eight in the opening five minutes of the
game before Trinity rattled off a eight unanswered points to take
their first lead at 11-10 with 12:18 on the
clock. The Ephs were able to regain the lead
quickly though, and amassed a six-point advantage with just under
eight minutes to play in the first half.
The tables began to turn quickly once more, as
Trinity stormed from behind. Carly Napier
started things off right for the Bantams, launching a three ball to
bring her squad within three points. Kaitlin
Ciarleglio followed her teammates lead, and scored three-point to
tie the game at twenty points apiece.
The two three-pointers marked the beginning of
a 13-0 run for the Bantams. Williams went
scoreless for over three and a half minutes before Jill Greenberg
stopped the bleeding with a lay in. The Ephs
played behind for the rest of the half, and headed to the locker
room down six points at 31-25.
“I think it's hard to play
after an emotional loss,” said Williams' head coach Pat
Manning.
“It's hard after any Amherst game, but that's the
way our conference is. We're used to
playing back-to-back games. Trinity comes
and gets you the whole forty
minutes. We really had to fight for this one
because nothing comes easy against them. It was
a gutsy win.”
It took seven minutes of the second half for
Williams to tie the game off a pair of Grace Rehnquist free
throws. Danny Rainer
grabbed the lead for the Ephs inside to go ahead by two points at
42-20 with 11:12 on the clock. The Ephs would
never go on a big run, leaving the Bantams in range of the lead for
most of the second half. Taylor Shea would hit
two from the charity stripe to give Williams their largest lead of
the second half at eight points with 34 seconds remaining in
regulation.
Baskets did not come easy from either team
with Williams shooting just 33% from the floor and Trinity shooting
28%. Both squads shot
an identically poor 21% from three-point range.
Williams' advantage on the boards, 55-41, proved to be the
key to victory this afternoon.
“People came up big at different
times,” commented Manning. “Jennie
Harding had great, critical rebounds. Danny
Rainer was a spark for us off the bench. It was
a balanced day, everybody contributed and rebounded
well. Not one person stood
out. It was a collective team effort and I was
really happy with the outcome. Trinity is tough
team and they make you earn it. It was a big win
for us.”
Balanced is
right, as no Eph scored in double figures. Jackson
scored 9 points and grabbed 6 rebounds. Harding
was one point and rebound shy of a double-double, scoring
9 with 9 boards. Claire
Baecher had 8 points and 7 boards, while Shea
and Rainer chipped in 6 points apiece. Shea
grabbed 9 boards as well.
Ciarleglio paced the Bantams with a team-high
14 points. Claire
Arnstein followed with 13 points. Christine Card
added 10 points and 7 boards.
Williams will host Bates in a NESCAC
quarterfinal game on Saturday, February 20 in Chandler
Gymnasium. Game time
is set for 2:00 p.m.
The Ephs and Bobcats have faced each other once in the 2009-2010
regular season on January 16. Williams took the
win by a 67-59 score.
