Box Score Clinton, NY- The Williams College women's basketball team used a strong second half effort to propel them to a much needed 59-50 win on the road against the Hamilton College Continentals. Williams (12-4/2-3 NESCAC) outscored Hamilton 36-16 in the second half after trailing by 11 points at halftime, a deficit that was completely erased in the third quarter as the Ephs came out of the break determined to play stiff defense. Williams sophomore Ammani Fernandez scored 15 of her team-high 18 points in the second half to lead the comeback effort. Hamilton (5-11/1-4 NESCAC) was led by senior Sam Graber, who notched 20 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists in the contest.
The first half was dictated largely by Graber and the Continentals, who shot 40% from the field through the first two quarters. Sturdy defense quickly turned into offense for Hamilton who forced 15 Williams turnovers that led to 16 of the Continentals' 34 first half points. Fernandez, who leads the Ephs in assists per game, was slightly sloppy with her passing in the second quarter, committing eight of the Ephs' turnovers. Hamilton was also dominating down low in the first 20 minutes, out-rebounding the Ephs as well as out-scoring them in the paint. Williams senior Katie Litman did her best to assert her presence in the post, leading the Ephs with six points in the first half. Post play seemed to be a big part of the game plan for Williams as they attempted only four shots from behind the three point arc, and only converted on one of those attempts. The only made three came courtesy of freshman Lexi Jones, who made her first career start in a Williams uniform tonight.
The differences between the first half and the second half are as clear in the box score as they were in the atmosphere at Scott Field House, much to the dismay of the boisterous and colorfully dressed Hamilton supporters. Williams began to control the statistical categories which head coach Pat Manning stressed throughout the week in practice, coming off back to back losses to two Maine NESCAC opponents. Manning said, "We focused on rebounding and defense all week in preparation for this game, and I thought Katie and [senior captain] Oge Uwanaka both did a great job crashing the boards and playing good defense." Williams out-rebounded Hamilton 23-12 in the second half, 11-5 offensively. The Ephs also took better care of the ball in the second half, only turning it over nine times while Hamilton committed 15 turnovers. Ten of those Hamilton turnovers were steals by Williams.
Manning was proud of her team's composure in the face of a double digit halftime deficit, shown most clearly by Ammani Fernandez. After her eight turnovers in the second quarter, Fernandez only turned the ball over once in the second half, recording three assists and two steals over the same amount of time. Manning was also quick to note the performance of sophomore Kristen Fechtelkotter, who put up seven points and brought down five rebounds in 28 minutes of playing time.
Tonight's game marks the halfway point in the Eph's ten game conference schedule. Three of the remaining five games will be played in Chandler Gymnasium, including a matchup with Middlebury College at 3:00 PM on Sunday. After Middlebury, the Ephs will wait almost two weeks to play another NESCAC game, and from there will close their season with four straight conference games.
With a 2-3 conference record heading into Sunday, Manning believes her team will need to continue to improve on defense and under the glass. She said, "Tonight's game really proved to us how deep our conference is, every team has a lot of talent. I'm very proud of my team for holding it together in the second half, and our improved defense really helped us to not panic. If we are going to continue to have success we will need to keep improving our defense and our rebounding, and our captains really helped us do that tonight."
The leadership of Litman and Uwanaka will again be put to the test when the Ephs take on the Panthers on Sunday.
