Box Score MONTCLAIR, NJ—There was no last-second heartbreak this time, no seesaw affair, no missed three-pointers.
This time, an early cushion gave way to a late collapse for the Williams women's basketball team, who fell in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Friday afternoon to Stevenson, 67-55. The loss marked the Ephs' second straight first-round exit of the national tournament; last year, the Ephs dropped a 76-75 nailbiter to Vassar.
The Ephs scored just four points in the game's final nine minutes, an offensive brownout that Coach Pat Manning chalked up to mental mistakes. "I thought we played great for 35 minutes," said Manning. "When they cut into our lead and started coming back, I feel like we panicked a little bit and started turning the ball over."
The disappointment of the loss belies just how accustomed to success the Ephs have become in recent years. Manning's Ephs have now won at least 20 games in five of their past six seasons (the 2011-2012 Ephs just missed the cut with 19). They have also earned three straight NCAA berths, the first such streak in program history, with senior co-captains Ellen Cook and Kellie Macdonald starting during each of those three seasons. "We have a lot to be proud of," said Manning. "I'm disappointed most for Kellie and Ellen. They are special, team-first players, and they meant so much to the program."
Fittingly, Macdonald and Cook also led the Ephs in scoring on the afternoon, with 15 and 12 points respectively. Macdonald scored all but four of her points in the first ten minutes of the second half, knocking down a slew of mid-range jumpers to help push the Eph advantage back out to as much as ten points early in the period. But Macdonald picked up her fourth foul with 10:01 to go and headed to the bench, where she stayed for nearly seven minutes as the Williams lead disappeared. "When she got in foul trouble, that really hurt," said Manning. "Kellie was really feeling it today."
After a heavily-guarded Cook knocked down a three-pointer to make the score 51-45 Ephs with just over nine minutes to play, the Mustangs tightened up on defense, allowing just one Williams basket for the remainder of the half. On the flip side of the ball, guard Ty Bender sliced through gaps in the usually stout Williams paint defense to score time and time again on the break, while Sara Tarbert—who led all scorers with 24 points—made her presence felt on the inside.
With 4:18 to play Kayleigh Guzek launched a three-pointer that gave Stevenson its first lead of the game. From there, the Ephs unraveled offensively, committing seven turnovers in less than four minutes and allowing the suddenly-hot Mustangs to pull away. Overall, the Ephs had 21 turnovers to go along with 26 personal fouls; the last time they committed at least 21 of each in a game was in a season-opening loss to Baldwin-Wallace in November 2009.
In a sense, the game served as a microcosm of the Ephs season. The Ephs (20-7, 7-3 NESCAC) began the season by winning 12 of 13 games (including a convincing win over Vassar), but stumbled with a pair of early conference losses and struggled to regain their rhythm. This afternoon, similarly, Williams led right from the start and roared out to a 22-6 lead in the game's first 10 minutes. But the Mustangs hung tough, whittled the deficit to 28-23 at halftime, then closed the game on a 22-4 run that erased the Ephs' ever-shrinking lead for good. "I give a lot of credit to Stevenson, they played great D," said Manning. "They play with poise, and they didn't get rattled when we went our run. I think we got a little rattled."
Stevenson will now take on either Montclair State or Regis tomorrow afternoon at 6pm.
