Box Score WILLIAMSTOWN, MA—Six basketball games in 11 days is a lot. But for the Williams women's basketball team, which has played exactly that many games in exactly that span of time, their packed early-season schedule produced a nice payoff. For a few hours on Tuesday evening, the Ephs had the most wins in the country.
The last of those wins came earlier this evening, as the No. 13 Ephs (6-0) used another sturdy defensive performance to overcome an array of early mistakes and top Springfield, 62-46. The Ephs are 6-0 for the second straight season and the fourth time in five years, with the only blemish on their record of 6-0 starts over that span coming via a 1-point loss to Bridgewater St. in their sixth game of 2012.
Devon Caveney was the Ephs' star of the night; her 28 points—14 in each half—were a career high, not to mention the most scored in a game by an Eph on the young season. Caveney has notched at least 15 points in all three of the Ephs' contests at Chandler Gym so far this season, and she leads Williams heading into the Thanksgiving break with 12.7 points per game. "Devon was on fire," said Manning, in an understatement.
Indeed, Caveney was one of two Ephs—along with Kellie Macdonald—to sink a field goal in the topsy-turvy first half, in which the two teams combined for an unsightly 24 fouls and 21 turnovers.
It was a half in which the scoreboard at times belied performance. The Ephs bumbled their way onto the floor with a series of awkward passes and uncharacteristic errors, with Amanni Fernandez's feed that whizzed past the head of an unsuspecting Caveney and out of bounds on the game's first play setting the tone. Yet the Ephs scored the game's first 10 points and did not allow a basket until Springfield's Riley Fake nailed a wide-open three from the corner.
Fake's basket galvanized Springfield, and the Pride methodically worked their way back into the game on the strength thanks in part to some strong post work off the bench from Ava Adamopoulos, who scored seven points in just 10 first half minutes. The Pride even led by 18-17 with just over five minutes to play in the half, and trailed by just four at the break.
Were the extra games taking their toll on the Ephs? "Maybe a litte bit," said Manning, who credited captains Macdonald and Ellen Cook for keeping the team from looking ahead to the looming break. "This is the fastest we've ever played six games. But this is such a dedicated and focused and driven team."
Though the second half began as slowly as the first half played out, with both teams only able to manage five points in the period's first five minutes, the Ephs began to incrementally increase their lead as the minutes ticked away. They were led during the game's decisive stretch by Cook, who recovered from a scoreless first half to drain three straight shots from the Ephs, hitting a pair of long twos with her toes on the line before stepping back and drilling the real McCoy to give the Ephs a 41-33 advantage with 8:53 to play. "It felt like she hit more than one three," said Manning on Cook's brief but critical hot strech.
Caveney carried the Ephs the rest of the way. Though the sophomore struggled from the field early in the half, she hit her back-to-back attempts from downtown to push Williams' lead to as large as 18 with under five minutes to play. And when the Pride rallied again, scoring eight points in 50 seconds to draw back to within 10, Caveney knocked down one last three to settle the Ephs and make the game's final two minutes an academic affair.
Heather Lewis scored 14 points to pace Springfield (0-3), which fell to Williams for the sixth straight time. Springfield last beat the Ephs in February 2005.
Springfield next plays on December 3 at Smith, whom the Ephs beat 86-49 a week ago. Williams, meanwhile, will renew its 2014 campaign on Sunday afternoon, when the Ephs will travel south to take on Eastern Connecticut State at 3:00 p.m.
