Box Score
Williamstown, MA- While the Williams College women's soccer team was busy winning a national championship in Kansas City, the Williams women's basketball team stayed unbeaten in dominant fashion, beating Clarkson University 81-59. The game was played as part of the Williams Classic, with Pine Manor College and Bates College rounding out the field. Bates defeated Pine Manor in the first game of the day to get their first win of the season after falling to Clarkson on Friday night. Williams, now 6-0 to start the season, was spurred on by the outstanding individual performance of tournament MVP Ammani Fernandez. The sophomore followed her team high 19 point performance last night against Pine Manor with a double-double that included 20 points and 11 assists. Clarkson (5-2) was led by all-tournament selection sophomore Devin Sorell, who scored 32 points in 39 minutes of action.
Sorell shot well from the get-go, recording 10 of her team's first 13 points on 4-7 shooting. Williams countered with junior Devon Caveney, who scored 8 of her team high 29 points in the first quarter. Caveny and Fernandez, along with junior Lauren McCall, were the constants on the floor for the Ephs, with all three scoring in double figures in over 30 minutes of playing time. The front court of Williams, anchored by senior captains Katie Litman and Oge Uwanaka, took a hit when each of them was granted limited playing time due to foul trouble. As a result, Williams head coach Pat Manning was forced to turn to her bench, specifically sophomore Kristin Fechtelkotter. Fechtelkotter, who Manning called a very versatile player, saw 16 minutes of action and was able to provide everything that her team needed from her.
Williams began to pull away from Clarkson in the second quarter, limiting the Golden knights to only 11 points in the period. Caveney continued her early success, shooting 4-6 from the floor for nine points. The slow tempo of the game favored the Ephs, who were giving themselves plenty of time to find the best look at the basket on each possession. Most of these looks came off of dribble penetration from Fernandez and Caveney, who would either take the shot themselves or use their vision to find open teammates.
The start of the second half told much the same story for the Ephs, with the trio of Caveney, Fernandez, and McCall leading the charge. Clarkson found some of the offensive rhythm that they had been lacking through the first two quarters, shooting 50% from the field. Sorell and junior Stephanie Grobe contributed 12 of Clarkson's 18 third quarter points, however they couldn't keep pace with the duo of Caveney and Fernandez.
Sorell finished the game strong, banging home multiple three pointers in the final quarter in a desperate attempt to bring the Golden Knights back into the contest. At this point, Uwanaka and Litman each had racked up four personal fouls, forcing Manning to look to her bench yet again. This time relief came from sophomore Valerie Oyakhilome, who hit both of her three point attempts and added three free throws for nine fourth quarter points. Her efforts, along with another seven points from Fernandez, helped Williams maintain their large lead in the final minutes. Fernandez displayed her ability to create scoring chances for her teammates when she found Caveney whose success was owed in large part to Fernandez, on a beautiful back door cut that gave Caveney an easy layup.
Manning said after the game, "Today I feel like we really elevated our play and executed our offense much more effectively. On defense, the things that we didn't do well yesterday we did much better today, little things like pressuring the ball better, not getting beat off the dribble, and collapsing on the ball inside. We just made better decisions tonight." That level of decision making is reflected in the turnover comparison between Friday and Saturday, with Williams decreasing that stat by twelve today.
Williams will play Smith College at home on Wednesday in their next contest while Clarkson will not play again for the rest of 2015. A matchup with Union on January 2nd will be the next game for the Golden Knights.
