WILLIAMSTOWN, MA -- The Williams women's basketball team defeated the University of Maine – Presque Isle (4-8) 68-35 tonight. The Ephs (13-1, 1-1 NESCAC) have now won two straight games after dropping their first loss of the year on Friday.
The Owls set the pace early, but when a Claire Baecher blocked shot with 10:40 on the clock resulted in a long ball from Grace Rehnquist, the Ephs started to gain momentum. On the next offensive possession, Baecher swooshed a three of her own from the top-of-the-key.
Out of an Owl timeout, Jennie Harding stole the ball and pushed it up court. The play resulted in a nice lay-up from Rehnquist and the Ephs pushed the lead to six with just over nine to play.
The Ephs capped their 14-0 run with just over 3:30 on the clock as Danny Rainer added a nice jump shot off the glass from just above the foul line. The hoop pushed the Ephs' lead to 12.
The Owls broke the Ephs' spell with a bounce pass inside to Rashell Saucier. After a pretty pump fake, she finished a layup and was fouled. She converted the three-point play to cut the lead to 22-13 with three minutes on the clock.
Baecher responded for the Ephs by swooshing a three from the right baseline. After trading several possessions to end the half, Harding got in on the long ball action with a swoosh from the top left with under a minute to play. To finish the half, Jen Borderud stole the ball and took it the length of the court for two to give the Ephs the 32-13 lead going into the break.
The Owls started off the second half on the offensive end. Saucier drove to the hoop and pulled up with a jump stop to give the Owls the opening hoop of the half. Baecher responded with a lay-up for the Ephs.
Despite hard-fought play on both sides of the court from the Owls, the Ephs continued to add to their lead for the rest of the half. The Ephs' contributions came from all over – including a pretty jump shot from Harding after crossing over her defender and yet another swooshed long ball from Rehnquist. The Ephs also got a nice long two from Blair Curzi off the bench as time winded down. Everyone played tonight for the Ephs.
Saucier led the way tonight for the Owls with 11 points. She also pulled down nine rebounds. The Owls shot 34.8% from the field on the night.
With 14 points, Baecher led the way for the Ephs, who shot 41.2% from the floor.
Said Coach Manning after the game, "Our offense was kind of inconsistent tonight. There are a couple things we emphasized at half time: better shot selection and cleaning up the boards. And we did. They had no offensive rebounds in the second half. I thought our shot selection was much better – we shot 47%. I think we adjusted when we had to, and I was happy with the effort."
Manning also stressed the importance of her bench. "Rachel [MacLean] did a great job. She was more assertive than she's been in past games," she said. "I thought that was key for her. This was a real step forward for Rachel. I thought Jen Borderud did the same thing; although, Jen has been in critical games before at critical times. I though Blair [Curzi] and Megan Rogers were really looking to do some good things and Ellen Cook [did] the same thing. I think this was a great game for people to get valuable experience."
The Ephs play at Little Three rival Wesleyan on Friday at 6 PM while the Owls return to the court tomorrow evening at 7:30 PM at Eastern Connecticut State.
"We did some things tonight that we're going to look to do on Friday and Saturday," said Manning. "We wanted to treat this as a conference game. Our intensity was the same as it will be for the weekend. We hope to gain some momentum from this."
