Box Score WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – Despite entering the second half down by fourteen, Williams Women's Basketball (17-2, 3-2 NESCAC) overtook Smith College with a second half push that entailed 14 points from Oge Uwanaka and 13 from freshman Lauren McCall. Williams would overtake Smith by a score of 89-80, giving them the win in their last out-of-conference game in the regular season.
Three players would have over twenty points in this evening's matchup, with Smith's Rosa Drummond and Paulina Solis scoring 25 and 23 points respectively and Williams' Ellen Cook grabbing 23. Uwanaka followed close behind, nabbing 19 points as well as team-high 10 rebounds.
The beginning of the first half would prove to be very low scoring, with the score locked at 3-2 after four minutes of play. Smith would grab the first significant lead of the game one minute later after a five-point run put them on top by a score of 3-7. With an unassisted drive to the hoop, Kellie MacDonald put the Ephs back on the scoreboard, jumpstarting the home team's momentum after three minutes of scoreless play. However, Smith's high-intensity defense in conjunction with their consistent shooting helped them grab a nine-point lead before Williams could fully mount their comeback effort. Rosa Drummond would have ten of Smith's first fourteen points, scoring two three-pointers in those first ten minutes of play.
Smith extended their run to nine points before Williams responded with two free throws from MacDonald. With the score at 18-7 in Smith's favor, Drummond made her third three-pointer of the game to help bring the Pioneers into double-digits just before the ten-minute mark. The Ephs never gave up, however, as a hustle play by Ellen Cook converted a steal into a layup to bring the score to 21-9. Shortly thereafter, Cook converted another steal, this time by MaryKate O'Brien, into a three-pointer. With a three-pointer by O'Brien and a layup by Cook, the Ephs had shortened their deficit to just six points, but the Pioneers continued to push the ball hard to the hoop, sinking layups or drawing fouls.
With just under seven minutes remaining in the first half, Smith had managed to regain their double-digit lead. Both teams found themselves in foul trouble in the last five minutes of play, and they each capitalized on their opportunities at the foul line. Those last few minutes would prove to be very fast-paced, with both teams utilizing their athleticism to push the ball down court. However, Smith would capitalize on this high-speed play more successfully than did the home team, extending their lead to fifteen points after two pull-up jump shots by Marissa Munoz-Ruiz. The first half would close out at 46-32 in Smith's favor, with Smith's Drummond and Williams' Cook both in double-digits in terms of scoring. Drummond nabbed sixteen points in the half while Cook had fifteen.
In the second half, Williams found their footing, breaking through their double-digit deficit by the 19:16 mark with a three-pointer each from O'Brien and MacDonald. The Ephs penetrated the Pioneers' aggressive defense to come within five of their competition before Drummond made another three-pointer to bring the score to 57-49. Strong moves in the paint by Oge Uwanaka helped Williams regain their momentum as she contributed two consecutive layups to the Ephs' offense.
With a three-pointer by McCall at the 12:17 mark, the Ephs came within one point of their competition, the closest they'd come to grabbing the lead since Smith went up four minutes into the game. The Pioneers pushed back, going on a seven-point run to grab a 66-58 lead, but the Ephs turned things around quickly. Benefitting from the composed shooting of freshmen McCall and Caveney, the Ephs they found themselves back within two points at the 6:02 mark.
With both teams in foul trouble, Cook found herself at the foul line with just over five minutes left to play. Cook sunk both of her foul shots to tie things up at 71, but then a subsequent layup by Uwanaka secured Williams their first lead in 33 minutes. Williams was able to extend that lead to five points by the 2:30 mark, and with just one minute left a three-pointer by Cook gave the home team an eight-point lead. However, just after scoring her 23rd point, Cook would foul out of the game, leaving her underclassmen teammates to run the court. They would rise to the challenge, extending the Ephs' lead to nine points before closing out the game at 89-80.
This would be Williams' fifth straight win, and their highest-scoring game of the season thus far. Said coach Pat Manning, "We had our two captains foul out of the game for the first time tonight, and I'm very proud of how our team remained composed and made key shots to secure the win." With two players coming back from illness, Manning was pleased to see her team respond so successfully to adversity. "Everything was going Smith's way and nothing was going our way," said coach Manning. "We had a similar game against Trinity, but this time we came out of the locker room after half time and took control. We won this with our mental toughness, which is tremendous to see from a team so young."
Williams next takes on Middlebury away at 6 P.M. on Friday.
