Box Score
New London, CT- The Williams College Ephs (14-8, 3-5 NESCAC) took a road loss to the Connecticut College Camels (16-7, 4-4 NESCAC) by a score of 68-63 in a game that may prove to be critical in determining first round matchups of the NESCAC tournament. Connecticut senior Liz Malman led all scorers with 28 points in all 40 minutes on her senior day, inspiring her team to victory. Williams junior Kristin Fechtelkotter led her team with 18 points and added 7 rebounds, but the true performer of the game was Lauren McCall, who kept the Ephs in the game with four three pointers in the first half. McCall finished with 16 points on the day.
The Charles B. Luce field house bristled with energy right out of the gate due to the significance of the game to both teams' seasons and the fact that it was senior day. Conn used that energy to jump out to an 18-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Connecticut junior Mairead Hynes, who sits near the top of the NESCAC in several statistical categories including points per game and field goal percentage, got on the board early with 7 points on 3-3 shooting. The Williams offense failed to establish a rhythm due to turnovers and too many shots forced in tight areas, though McCall did get off to a good start with 5 points on 2-2 shooting.
Malman, the only senior on the Connecticut roster, opened up scoring in the second quarter with a deep three that gave the Camels a 10 point lead. The lead hovered around 10 until McCall hit her third three pointer of the first half to close the gap to two possessions at 27-21 with 4:01 to play in the half. With less than a minute to play in the half, Malman created her own shot late in the shot clock to give the Camels a 31-24 lead. Again Williams went to the deep ball in response, and again it was McCall that provided it, cashing in on her fourth three of the half to bring Williams back within four at halftime. McCall led all scorers with 14 points at the break, almost single-handedly keeping the Ephs competitive.
Williams came out of the break in a 2-3 zone defensively, which worked effectively in the second half against Wesleyan on Friday night and was part of the reason why the Ephs outscored the Cardinals by 19 in the third quarter. Head coach Pat Manning said about her team's defense, "I thought we played pretty well defensively, but they hurt us inside and we got into foul trouble. Not having Lydia [Zaleski] available hurt us, we could have used another post player to go against Hynes." Zaleski stayed home with an illness.
Williams quickly erased the halftime deficit, starting with another three from Chang. Fechtelkotter took over the game, scoring the Ephs' next 10 points and helping Williams to a 40-37 lead. Malman cut the lead to one at 43-42 with her third three of the night before Williams junior Amanni Fernandez tacked on two free throws to send Williams into the final quarter with a three point lead.
Those free throws were the first points of the night for Fernandez, as she and senior captain Devon Caveney, the Ephs' two leading scorers, were held to just two points combined through three quarters. McCall and Chang made up the difference with their sharpshooting from behind the arc.
The teams traded baskets to open the fourth quarter before Malman hit a three to tie the score at 47 with 8:09 to play in the game. Caveney finally got on the board with a three pointer to put Williams back up by three, but Malman again found the bottom of the net from well beyond the arc to level the score. From there the Camels put together a mini 6-0 run capped off by a three from Kylie Caouette that sent the crowd into a frenzy and forced a timeout by Williams head coach Pat Manning.
Malman's biggest shot came with just over three minutes remaining after the timeout, when the score stood at 66-62 in favor of the Camels. With the shot clock winding down, Caouette desperately drove baseline and was able to kick it out to Malman for her sixth and final three of the night that bumped the lead to seven. Williams continued to claw at the lead, but the Camels stayed just out of reach by shooting 7-8 from the free throw line in the final 1:30 of the game.
Manning, though slightly disappointed that her team did not pull out the win, gave credit to the Connecticut College team for they way they played, especially Malman and Hynes. She said after the game, "It was an exciting game featuring two evenly matched teams. We played pretty well after getting off to a slow start, they just found the shots when they needed them most." Manning noted many positive takeaways, including McCall's performance and the continued development of Chang and fellow first year Emily Peckham.
With the win, Connecticut moves into sole possession of fifth place in the NESCAC while Williams drops to sixth place. Seeding will be critical, as the top three teams in the NESCAC are all nationally ranked (Bowdoin #23, Amherst #2, Tufts #1). Williams will look to move up the ladder when they play Tufts and Bates at home next weekend. Connecticut will take a Maine road trip next weekend, facing Colby and Bowdoin on back to back days.
