Box Score Waterville, ME- The Williams College women's basketball team suffered their third defeat of the season today when they went on the road to face the Colby College Mules at Wadsworth Gymnasium. Colby (9-5/2-1 NESCAC) took their first lead of the game toward the end of the first quarter and never relinquished it on their way to the 69-63 victory. The Mules were led by the sharp shooting of senior captain Carylanne Wolfington, who knocked down six threes in the ball game including three in the second quarter that helped Colby build an eight point halftime lead. Williams (11-3/1-2 NESCAC) was led by sophomore Ammani Fernandez, who did her best to keep the Ephs within striking distance, scoring 12 of her 19 points in the second half.
Williams jumped out to an early 6-0 lead before the Colby defense began to settle into their assignments. From that point on the Mules were extremely effective in their ability to disrupt the flow of the Williams offense, especially in the way they closed down and contested open shot attempts. Colby, playing in front of a home crowd, out hustled Williams to loose balls throughout the game, out-rebounding the Ephs 39-29. Rebounding on the offensive end proved especially important for Colby, leading to second chance baskets that the Mules desperately needed as they only shot 38% from the field while Williams was connecting at a 50% clip.
Colby took an 11-10 lead at 1:54 in the first quarter when senior Desiree Smith hit a three pointer. Her basket was countered by a three from Fernandez, the NESCAC leader in three point percentage, connecting 51% of the time from long range. That three tied the game at 13 to end the first quarter, which is when Wolfington and Colby began to make their move.
Wolfington hit a three pointer to open the scoring in the second quarter, one of three three point baskets she would drain in the period for 9 of her game-high 20 points. The other two threes were made on back to back Colby possessions to stretch the lead to 32-23 at the 1:57 mark in the second. Williams junior Lauren McCall led the Ephs in the quarter with 5 points including a three pointer that tied the game at 18 before Colby closed the half on a 15-7 run.
Williams countered with a 17-6 run of their own to start the second half, capped off by a layup from sophomore Lydia Zaleski that brought the Ephs within one point. Fernandez found herself in the middle of most of the scoring, shooting 4-4 from the field for 9 points in the quarter. Wolfington had left the game briefly to address an injury, but upon return she made her impact felt immediately, following the Zaleski layup with another three pointer to push the Colby lead back to two possessions. The next possession, Wolfington hit a three from well beyond the arc to give the Mules a seven point lead. Two layups from Colby sophomore Haley Driscoll extended the lead to 9 at the end of the third, but the Ephs would refuse to go away.
Williams trailed by as many as ten and as little as two in the fourth quarter, the game going back and forth between a one possession, two possession, and even a four possession contest. The Eph comeback effort was spearheaded by two upperclassmen, junior Devon Caveney and senior Katie Litman, who each scored six points in the period. It was Caveney who put the Ephs within two points with a three pointer from the corner with 1:56 left in the game. Colby senior Mia Diplock helped seal the deal for her team, scoring 10 points in the quarter which included five free throws down the stretch that pushed the game out of the Ephs' grasp.
Williams head coach Pat Manning said following the game, "NESCAC games are always tough to win, and when you go on the road they become even tougher. That being said, tonight we did not execute our game plan properly and we also did not put forth the necessary effort, we got out-hustled to a lot of balls. Credit to Colby for making all the little plays that it took to win this game, they came up big when they had to." Colby will play their next game on the road against UMass-Dartmouth on Monday while the Ephs will travel a little further south in Maine to meet the Bowdoin Polar Bears on their home court. Manning says it will not be flashy plays that get the job done on Sunday at Bowdoin, "If we want to bounce back against Bowdoin we're going to have to make the little plays. We're going to have to rebound better than the way we did tonight." Williams has yet to lose two games in a row this season and will look to continue that pattern when Sunday's game tips off at 2:00 PM.
