AMHERST, MA – The top-seeded Amherst College women's basketball team used a 20-0 run that spanned nearly 10 minutes to earn a 71-64 win over fourth-seeded Williams College Saturday afternoon in the NESCAC Championship semifinal round.
The Lord Jeffs improve to 25-1 (9-0 NESCAC) and will host either Bowdoin or Colby Sunday at noon in LeFrak Gymnasium for the conference title. The Ephs drop to 21-5 (6-3 NESCAC) and will hope for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The Ephs trailed by 28 early in the second half, but a furious 25-5 run to close the game accounted for the final score. The closest Williams got was six points, 70-64, with under a minute to go.
"Amherst is such an explosive team, you can't have lapses like we did and win," said Ephs' head coach Pat Manning. "I thought we played a great 28, 30 minutes, but that's not enough against a team like this. I was very proud of the of the way we fought back. Down 28, there could have been some head hanging, but we kept working and really had the momentum much of the second half."
Holding a seven-point cushion, Amherst scored the final 13 points of the first half and the first seven points of the second frame, keeping Williams off the board for nine minutes and 57 seconds to seemingly put the game out of reach. The Jeffs—who bumped their home win streak to 44—have won eight straight against the Ephs, with three of those victories coming this season.
Back-to-back three-pointers by Kim Fiorentino '12 gave Amherst some early breathing room at 17-7, but Williams stayed in the game with several backdoor cuts and fast-break points. The Ephs cut their lead to seven on a three by Jen Borderud '13 and again on a jumper from Chessie Jackson '11, but the Lord Jeffs closed the first half on a 17-3 run. A steal and coast-to-coast lay-in by Marcia Voigt '13 and a Caroline Stedman '12 layup at the buzzer marked the final points, as the Jeffs headed into the locker room with significant momentum and a 47-26 lead.
Fiorentino and Stedman had 10 points apiece at the break, while Jackson led Williams with seven. The Lord Jeffs shot a blistering 64.5 percent from the floor (20-of-31), while the Ephs hit only 36 percent of their shots (9-of-25).
The first four minutes of the second half belonged to the hosts, who turned tenacious defense into quick points to bump their lead to 28 at 54-26. Even a pair of free throw chances for the Ephs couldn't stop the bleeding, as the visitors did not get their first points of the second period until Jill Greenberg '12 hit a tough jumper with 13:42 to play.
Amherst led by at least 20 until Taylor Shea '11 hit a layup with 6:42 remaining to make it a 66-47 game. The Ephs never let up, cutting the Jeffs' advantage to 10 (69-59) thanks to back-to-back lay-ins by Shea and a three-point play from Claire Baecher '13. A three by Borderud and a jumper in the paint by Baecher made it a six-point game (70-64) with less than 20 seconds to go, but the Ephs could not complete the comeback despite closing out the game on an impressive 25-5 run.
Lem Atanga McCormick '12 scored 10 second-half points and a game-high 16 in all, while Sarah Leyman '11 had 12, Stedman added 11, and Fiorentino and Jaci Daigneault '11 finished with 10 apiece. Daigneault added 10 rebounds for a double-double, with Leyman pulling down eight boards of her own. Amherst shot only 27.3 percent (9-of-33) in the second half but recorded 15 steals and four blocks in the game.
Jackson finished with 12 points to lead Williams, which shot 53.8 percent in the second period. Greenberg and Baecher chipped in with 10 points apiece, with Baecher also grabbing eight rebounds.
