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WILLIAMSTOWN,
MA. - Williams women's basketball (16-5, 5-1 in NESCAC)
suffered their first conference loss of the season, and their first
loss since January 9, versus Colby (17-3, 4-2). The Ephs
trailed in the first half before coming from behind to challenge
the Mules in the latter twenty minutes. Colby proved to be
too strong a presence on the boards for Williams as the Mules took
the win in overtime, 74-68.
Points
were tough to come by in the first half for Williams, as the Ephs
shot just 31.4-percent from the floor. Numbers were even
worse from behind the arc. Williams attempted thirteen
three-point shots, but were successful on only two attempts.
Neither team could score early though, as Colby took their first
lead at 6-4 with 16:04 left on the clock.
The
Mules built their lead up to eight points, leading 20-12 with 8:32
remaining in the half. Williams junior Chessie Jackson scored
the only two three-pointers on back-to-back offensive possessions
to bring the home squad back within two points at 22-20 with five
minutes left to play. Colby would pull ahead in the final
minutes to bring the first half count to 31-24.
The
height of Colby's inside players hurt Williams early on. With
five Mules listed above six-feet on the roster, the Ephs faced a
disadvantage in the paint, and Colby out rebounded Will
iams 26-17 in the first twenty minutes of play. The visiting
team finished the game with a 10-rebound advantage on the offensive
end, allowing the Mules to score second-chance baskets that hurt
the Ephs late in the game.
Colby's
Samantha Allen nailed a three-point shot to bring the Mules to
their largest advantage of the game at ten, 34-24. Williams
seemed to wake up after the basket, upping the defensive intensity
inside and surging on the offensive end. Jill Greenberg began
to attack the basket and scored 6 points within a minute and a half
span to narrow the deficit to three at 40-37 with 14:53 left in
regulation.
Clare Baecher and Jennie Harding scored a bucket a piece to tie
the game at 46-46 just two minutes later. The Ephs grabbed
the lead for the first time since the early minutes of the first
half off a Jen Borderud pull-up jumper, going ahead by two points
at 48-46.
Williams
mounted a 54-47 lead, their largest advantage of the game.
Colby responded quickly with six unanswered points, and regained
the lead at 57-56 with 1:08 on the clock. Kelsey Ham drained
a clutch shot for the Ephs behind the arc with 47 seconds left to
give the Ephs a two-point lead in the final minute. The Mules
fouled Jackson with 20 seconds left, but Jackson could not connect
on the one-an
d-one at the line.
On
the Mules final possession in regulation Alison Cappelloni drove in
the lane and missed a shot. Rachael Mack grabbed the
offensive board, missed the put back, and grabbed another
rebound. This time Mack would not miss, and scored to tie the
game with .4 seconds to send the game into overtime.
"In
the first half, we had no flow offensively or defensively," said
Williams' head coach Pat Manning. "We were all over the
place, and were not making good decisions. In the second
half, we were much better on both ends of the floor. The
bottom line is we just got killed on the boards. When we took
control in the second half we should have closed it out by crashing
the boards but we did not. They were tougher on the boards
when it counted."
Overtime
remained close throughout. Both teams traded baskets, and
neither could extend a lead past two. With 1:56 left in
overtime, Mack made two free throws to grab a three-point lead for
the Mules. Colby would have a four-point lead with just under
a minute to play. On the next Ephs possession, Jackson
attempted a three-point shot. Baecher tipped in the miss to
bring the score to 70-68 with 13 seconds left. Allen hit her
two free throws for Colby, and the Ephs would turn the ball over on
their final possession.
"In
overtime, I felt like we rushed things," commented Manning.
"We reverted to the play of the first half, and it was us just not
doing a good job on the boards again."
Jackson
scored a game-high 20 points. Greenberg followed with 14
points, while Jaris added 10 points. Claire Baecher scored
seven, grabbed 9 boards, and had 7 blocks.Mack led the way for
Colby with 15 points and 7 boa
rds. Three other Mules scored in double figures with Aarika
Ritchie scoring 14 points, Allen scoring 11, and Jill Vaughan
adding 10 points.
Williams
will host Bowdoin tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. in Chandler Gymnasium.
