WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – The Williams women's basketball team won the Williams Holiday Classic today 71-45 over Daemen College. With the win, the Ephs (6-0) handed Daemen (8-1) its first loss of the year.
The first half proved a battle for the two teams. The Ephs got a rush of momentum after
Claire Baecher blocked a wide-open 3-pointer attempt from the left corner. Although the Wildcats got the ball back out of bounds,
Grace Rehnquist stole the ball and sent it ahead to
Jill Greenberg. Greenberg had a little alley-oop pass to Baecher, who finished to put the Ephs down 5-4 just under four minutes in. Following a Wildcat hoop, Baecher was fouled on a jump shot. The basket was good as was the resulting free throw.
With the game tied, Courtney Donovan hit a long two to give the lead back to the Wildcats. The Ephs, however, gained a lead of their own. With 12 minutes to play, Jen Borderud stole the ball and took it the length of the court for two to make it a four-point Eph lead. Danny Rainer then added a soft hoop from the left side. After trading buckets, Rehnquist, who had 11 points in the opening half, sunk a long ball from the left side to push the lead to nine – the largest of the half - with eight minutes to play.
The Wildcats responded with some offense of their own. Samantha Stanfield hit a jumper to cut the lead to seven. A couple possessions later, Chelsea Andorka had a nice drive to the hoop. She threw in a pump-fake and finished the layup as her defender left the floor.
For the rest of the half, the Ephs and Wildcats traded baskets, and the Ephs went into the break with the 28-23 lead.
Out of the break, the Wildcats were the first to put points on the board. Andorka hit a long two to pull within three. After an Eph hoop, Andorka had a nice crossover move that led to a hoop to keep it at three.
Rainer responded for the Ephs by backing down her defender in the paint to push the lead back to five. She then had a nice finish without using the backboard. To push the lead to nine, Rainer had a beautiful fade-away jumper.
Said Coach Pat Manning about Rainer's play in the middle, "She just took over. She took their big player one-on-one and came through with 3 straight baskets. This was a big step for Danny. She was smart to recognize the one-one in the paint. Teammates did a good job of getting her the ball. She's a really good finisher. That turn-around jumper's her best shot. I was really happy for her."
On the following Wildcat possession, Baecher stole the ball and took it the length of the court for two. She was fouled on the play and made the resulting free throw to push the lead to 12. When Greenberg received a pass ahead off of a Wildcat turnover and finished the layup, Daemen was forced to take a timeout.
Out of the timeout, Allen hit a three from the top left to cut the lead to single digits. The Ephs responded with yet another hoop from Rainer, but Donovan sunk a long ball from the left baseline.
With 12 points from Baecher and eight from Rainer in the half, though, the Ephs proved overpowering for the Wildcats as they started to stretch their lead – pushing it to as many as 26 points.
Allen, Andorka, and Donovan had ten points apiece for the Wildcats, who shot 33.9% from the field. Andorka also pulled down nine rebounds. Allen was named to the All-Tournament Team for the Wildcats.
Leading the way for the Ephs today was Baecher with 20 points. She also added nine blocks and seven rebounds. Rehnquist finished with 13 points on the day while Rainer added 12. Rehnquist was named to the All-Tournament team for the Ephs, while Baecher was selected as the tournament MVP. The Ephs shot 43.3% from the field.
Said Coach Manning about her tournament MVP after the game, "She's just amazing. She's just so incredibly athletic. I think the most exciting thing about Claire is that she just has such fun playing. She's dominating because she's so athletic. She's just very level-headed, never panics, and just plays because she loves to play. She's just doing amazing things out there."
When asked what allowed the Ephs to pull away in the second half, Coach Manning said, "I think we have depth, so we can keep fresh people rotating in and out, and I think that makes a difference. We played everybody today, but we can go ten deep easily in a rotation and just keep fresh legs out there the whole time. I think that makes a difference [and makes it so] we can pull away in the last seven or eight minutes of a game."
The Ephs look to keep their win streak alive on Wednesday at Skidmore. Tip-Off is 7:00. Please see below for more details on the Consolation Game, a matchup between Middlebury and Bridgewater State.
The Bridgewater State Bears defeated the Middlebury Panthers 80-55 today in the Consolation Game of the Williams Holiday Classic. With the win, the Bears move to 4-2 while the Panthers fall to 2-3.
The two teams were evenly matched in the opening half. When the Bears gained a six-point lead with just over twelve minutes to play, Middlebury quickly responded. Brittany Perfetti hit a big three from the top right part of the arc to cut the lead to 16-13. After Sarah Marcus went 1-for-2 from the line, Tracy Borsinger had a nice finish to tie the game up at 16 apiece with 11:23 to play.
Jenna Williamson responded with a long two for the Bears, but they were unable to take back a decisive lead. Maddie Moreau stole the ball for the Panthers and took it the length of the court for a bucket. When Shelly DePina knocked down a huge three from the top right part of the arc to take back the lead with eight minutes to play, it looked as if the Bears might regain the lead. The Panthers, however, hung tight, and the two teams traded baskets for the rest of the half. The game was tied up at 35 all as the two teams went into the locker room.
Out of the break, the Bears started to take over. They opened the half wither a three-point play. Michaela Cosby was fouled on her way to the hoop. She made the resulting free throw to give her team the early second-half lead. The Bears' full-court press was overpowering for the Panthers, and they quickly added to the lead. With 16:27 on the clock, Cosby stole the ball and took it the length of the court to make it double digits at 47-37.
Borsinger responded for the Panthers with a bucket from the left baseline to cut the lead to 8, but the Panthers were unable to overcome the deficit. They did cut into the deficit one other time – with about 9:35 to play Katie Ritter was fouled as she drove to the hoop. She made the free throw to cut the lead to seven.
From that point forward, though, it was all Bears as they continued to stretch the lead – pushing it to as many as 29 points before the game was out.
Leading the way for Middlebury today was Moreau with 12 points. Marcus added 11. The team shot 35.4% from the field. Katie Pett was named to the All-Tournament Team for the Panthers.
Cosby led the Bears with 20 points. She also had eight steals. DePina added another 17 points and Megan Boutilette had a double double for the Bears with 11 points and 12 rebounds. DePina was the Bears' All-Tournament selection. The teams shot 43.5% from the field on the day.
