WILLIAMSTOWN, MASS.— The Williams College Ephs (9-12, 1-6, NESCAC) fell to the No. 25 Bates College Bobcats (18-2, 6-0, NESCAC) 86-70.
Tatum Leuenberger scored 15 points, came up 1 rebound shy of a double double with 9, and registered 4 blocks.
Arianna Gerig scored 24 points for her team adding 5 rebounds and 4 blocks.
During the 1
st quarter, first-year
Tatum Leuenberger passed over the defense to first-year
Mairi Smith and she continued to the basket as Smith passed it back to her on the way. Leuenberger faked a shot and as her defender was on the way down, Leuenberger jumped up to float it over her to tie the game at 6-6. Forward
Mairi Smith passed out of the key to junior
Ellie Tounkara in the right-side corner. Tounkara faked up, dribbled around her defender, and scored on a jump shot. To bring the Ephs within one of the Bobcats, guard
Ellie Tounkara found
Kate Keenan on the arc for a quick three and, on the next Eph-scoring attempt, Tounkara laid up the ball. The quarter ended 19-15 Bobcats after a late 3-pointer from the Bobcats.
Opening up the 2
nd quarter, guard
Cortland McBarron passed from the left-side baseline up to captain
Ellie Tounkara on the right-side arc. Tounkara dribbled around her defender again and tear dropped her shot to bring the Ephs within 2 at 19-17 Bobcats. Junior
Kate Keenan bounce-passed into the key to
Tatum Leuenberger who dribbled in and used a high-point on the glass to assure an Eph 2. In back-to-back Eph scoring attempts, sophomore
Logan Coster passed to
Cortland McBarron as she cut to the key and scored, and using her speed,
Logan Coster worked around the Bobcats defense for two, bringing the Ephs to within 6 of the Bobcats, 39-33. Junior
Arianna Gerig scored a buzzer-beater lay-up to close out the half and bring the momentum to the Ephs' side.
After an explosive 2
nd quarter for the Bobcats and the Ephs scoring the defense in the 3
rd quarter upped the ante on both sides, keeping the scoring to 17-11. Scoring the first points of the 3
rd quarter,
Arianna Gerig passed out to
Mairi Smith, moved around her defender and received the pass back from Smith. She was fouled on the lay-up and scored both free throws. With the help of her teammates and a couple solo lay-up drives,
Arianna Gerig scored 9 points in the quarter, however, the Bobcats were ahead 66-48.
Kate Keenan popped an elbow jumper to score the first points of the 4
th quarter.
Tatum Leuenberger and
Arianna Gerig both made 2 free throws. On a fast-break for momentum build-up,
Tatum Leuenberger passed the ball down-court to
Kate Keenan. Keenan bounce-passed ahead to
Arianna Gerig to lead her to the basket, and Gerig laid it in. Gerig followed-up on the the next play with 2 free throws to build a 6-point Eph run.
Cortland McBarron dribbled from the right-side through to the left and handed the ball off to
Kate Keenan who drove into the right-side of the key and was fouled on her lay-up, and scored the and 1. The Bobcats built-up lead and their beat the Ephs 86-70.
Ephs head coach
Pat Manning said, "Bates is a very talented team that can hurt you in a lot of ways inside and outside. They put together a complete game. Every time we went on a run, they answered with a key shot. It was a good effort on our part, but Bates was the better team today. I was happy with our rebounding and we were good on the o-boards; this whole weekend our rebounding was strong. However, they took 14 more shots than us and we had more turnovers. We need to stress taking care of the ball. We will regroup after winter study, and with Trinity and Wesleyan next weekend, we're going to use the break to work hard."
The Ephs are away to Hartford, Conn next to face Trinity College on Friday, February 2
nd at 7pm.
