Box Score WILLIAMSTOWN, MA—Fast starts in both halves proved to be the difference on Friday evening for the No. 22 Williams women's basketball team, as the undefeated Ephs (5-0) topped RPI by a score of 68-52 in the opener of the Williams Holiday Classic.
Williams dominated the first half on both sides of the ball in racing out to an early advantage that it never relinquished. Claire Baecher set the tone right from the start when she controlled the opening tip for the Ephs, who swung the ball around the perimeter before putting it back in Baecher's hands. The senior forward drove to the basket and, after missing her first layup attempt, collected her own rebound and scored the first points of the night.
That opening sequence seemed to spark the Ephs, who then raced out to a 20-5 lead before the game was eight minutes old, thanks in no small part to a 10-0 run characterized by opportunistic fast breaks, as when Ellen Cook found Grace Rehnquist open for three in the corner, and strong work in the paint, as when Jen Borderud put an exclamation point on the fast start by driving straight down the middle of the lane to collect her first points of the night.
Meanwhile, RPI struggled mightily shooting the ball and hit only one of their first 11 shots to start the half, putting them in a deep hole early. They did receive some help offensively from Amanda Lynch, who scored six straight points late in the half via a jump shot and a pair of nice plays under the rim to cut the Ephs' advantage, which had ballooned to 19 after Katie Litman laid one in from under the basket, down to 34-21 with 1:20 to go in the half.
That, however, was the closest the Engineers would get for the rest of the night.
The Ephs opened the second half with another tone-setting play, when Kellie Macdonald blocked Sarah Wetmore's three-point attempt. Danny Rainer swooped in to collect the deflected shot and started the Ephs offense in the other direction, where Jennie Harding hit a three to give the Ephs a 41-21 just 31 seconds into the period.
Once again, the shot touched off an offensive rush for the Ephs, who knocked down four of their first five shots from behind the arc to start the half in stretching their lead to as much as 25 points. Overall, the Ephs were a remarkable 7-for-13 from three-point range while holding the Engineers to just 1-of-17 in the same category, one of manby testaments to the completeness of tonight's performance.
"I'm so happy with our defense. That's what I stress, and we really executed well tonight," said Williams coach Pat Manning on her team's overall performance. "I was also really happy with how our offense clicked tonight. We started to get going last Sunday against MCLA, and carried it over tonight."
As she does so frequently, Rehnquist spurred the Ephs with her strong work off the bench and made the play of the game with about 12 minutes remaining when she came from out of nowhere to block a three-point attempt from Victoria Fuchs before hustling the ball up the court herself and sinking the layup for a 55-30 Williams lead.
"Grace had a really good game," said Eph coach Pat Manning after the game. "She's such a spark for us off the bench."
To their credit, the Engineers refused to concede and managed to bring the lead down to 14 with 3:52 to go when Bailei Tetrault hit her teams only three of the night to cut the deficit to 60-46, prompting Manning to call a timeout. Her team responded well and eliminated any remaining doubt about the game's outcome when Cook, who led the Ephs with 15 points, hit a clutch jumper after the break to rouse the crowd and bring the Ephs' lead back to its eventual final margin of 16.
In the end, Manning could find no significant fault with any aspect of her team's performance.
"We need to be consistent with [our effort]. Our goal tomorrow is to come out with the same intensity and play strong back-to-back games like we'll need to in conference play," said Manning.
The two squads will wrap up the tournament tomorrow afternoon. The Engineers will take on Bates at 1:00 p.m., while Williams will square off against Bridgewater Sate two hours later. Both contests will be played in Williams' Chandler Gym.
