WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – The Williams women's basketball team won its second straight game today in its Tip-Off Tournament. The Ephs (2-0) defeated 7th-ranked Babson (3-1) 61-39 in the closing game of the tournament.
After starting off a little slow, the Ephs started to take over the game. Jill Greenberg isolated her defender and drove to the hoop for two. On the ensuing Beaver possession, she stole the ball and handed it off to Claire Baecher, who drove to the hoop and was fouled. She was able to convert the three-point play to give the Ephs the 10-8 lead, their first of the game, at the 13:22 mark. The Beavers were forced to take their first timeout.
Out of the timeout, Sarah Collins had a put-back hoop to even the score for the Beavers. Jennie Harding, however, responded for the Ephs by swooshing a long ball from the top right part of the arc. Ellen Cook then added a hoop in transition to push the Eph lead to five. A few possessions later, Grace Rehnquist hit a 3-ball of her own from the top right to push the Eph lead to double digits with just under eight minutes to play.
For the final eight minutes, the Ephs continued to dominate. Their full-court press caused issues for the Beavers. The Beavers, however, continued to push as well. They had 11 offensive rebounds in the half, but the Ephs were able to hold them without a field goal for the final 4:36. Defensively, Baecher was all over the place for the Ephs with seven blocks in the half.
The opening minutes of the second half showed little offense for either team. The Beavers finally broke their field goal draught at the 14:04 mark with a nice finish from Nicki Wurdeman. Wurdeman added another hoop just over a minute later as she backed her defender down in the lane to cut the lead to 12. Then, Sarah Collins drove to the hoop for another basket for the Beavers and made the score 39-29 with 11:17 to play.
The Ephs, however, responded to the Beavers' rum. With the shot clock at one, Jill Greenberg was forced to take a long three from the top left. She met the challenge by swooshing the hoop and pushing the lead back to 13. Harding then added a layup in transition to push the lead to 44-29 with just over ten on the clock. From then forward, the Ephs would not allow the Beavers to start another run and continued to push offensively.
Leading the way for the Ephs today was Greenberg with 15 points. Greenberg was selected to the All-Tournament Team for the Ephs. Baecher posted a double double for the Ephs with 14 points and 10 rebounds; she also had 9 blocks in the game. She was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player. The Ephs shot 40% on the day.
After the game, Coach Pat Manning commented on Baecher's performance, "She's unbelievable. Claire's the most athletic player I've ever coached. She's so fun to coach because she takes it all in stride. She could have a 40-point game, and you'd never know it. She's the same no matter what. She's such a level-headed kid but unbelievably athletic, and she showed it today… To me, she's one of the best players in the country. She's the most athletic kid out there."
Wurdeman led the way for the Beavers with 14 points. Kathleen King added eight points and grabbed 12 rebounds for Babson. King was named to the All-Tournament Team for the Beavers, who shot 21.9% from the field.
Manning felt it was her team's defense that was the key to the win: "This is the highest-ranked team we've ever played this early in the season. Babson is a very good team, but our defense just took them out of their rhythm." She added, "We were smart about it. We didn't make unnecessary fouls. We just played really smart, head's up [defense]. That's the best defense we've played; I don't know if we've ever played better interior [defense]."
Looking ahead, Manning added, "I think we knew this was going to be a huge test for us. Our challenge now is, 'Can we sustain this type of intensity?' It's easy to get up [intensity] for games like this when you know how good they are with the high national ranking. Now our challenge is that we have to play every game that way. That should be our level."
Finally, Manning said, "I feel like this team is on a mission. We didn't get what we wanted to last year. We fizzled out a little but at the end. I think it's a really hungry group of kids, and [there is] great leadership by the senior class, [which] really wants to make a difference its senior year."
The Ephs look to continue their win streak on Tuesday against Springfield. Tip-off is at 5:30. See below for details on tonight's earlier matchup between Tufts and Whitman.
The Whitman Missionaries (1-2) defeated the Tufts Jumbos (0-2) in the Williams Tip-Off Tournament today 70-51.
For much of the first half, the two teams traded hoops. Whitman, however, started to pull away starting at the 6:30 mark behind a hoop from Heather Lovelace and two free throw from Jenele Peterson that pushed the score to 23-19. Tufts called a timeout but was unable to convert on its possession out of the break. On the ensuing Whitman possession, Lovelace drove baseline and finished to push the lead to six. Lovelace scored 11 points in the first half.
Tufts continued to fight to keep the lead at a minimum. Tiffany Kornegay drove into the lane to draw defenders and dished the ball back out to Collier Clegg at the top-of-the-key who knocked down the huge three. The Jumbos were then able to force a turnover on the next possession but were unable to convert.
The play was back-and-forth for the final possessions of the half, and the Missionaries went into halftime with the 33-27 lead.
Out of the break, it looked like Whitman was going to pull away. Clegg, however, hit a 3-ball from the top right to cut the lead to 43-33 with just under fifteen minutes to play. Just under a minute later, she swooshed another from the same spot to keep the Jumbos in the game. With 10:09 on the clock, however, Jennifer Keyes nailed a long ball for the Missionaries to force the lead back to ten. Although the Jumbos continued to fight, they were unable to get back in the game as Whitman continued to add to its lead.
Lovelace led the way for the Missionaries with 13 points. Peterson added 12. Peterson was named to the All-Tournament Team. Whitman shot 43.1% from the field.
Leading the way for the Jumbos was Kate Barnosky with eight points. Kelsey Morehead was names to the All-Tournament Team for the Jumbos, who shot 29.3% on the day.
