Williamstown, MA - It was the opening night of the season for the Williams Women's Basketball (1-0) and the first of two games in the Morin Memorial Tournament, named in honor of two of the most fervent Eph fans. Williams took on the visiting Keene State Owls (0-3) in a contest dictated by the strong Eph paint-play. Senior captain
Arianna Gerig's efficient 19 points and
Tatum Leuenberger's all-around effort gave Williams a commanding 80 - 55 victory to start the season.
The Ephs started the game with some early-season nerves going scoreless in their first few possessions but broke through them with an and-one interior basket for sophomore forward
Mairi Smith. The Ephs had no fear playing down-low with their next basket coming in the form of another and-one for senior captain
Arianna Gerig. The Owls' shooting kept them competitive with 3 knocked-down three-pointers. But it would be Williams' strong interior offense and defense that gave them the 19-12 lead heading into the second quarter.
Keene State's fast transition offense earned them a few easy lay-ups but the Ephs stopped their momentum with a gorgeous inside feed from the other senior captain,
Ellie Tounkara, to
Arianna Gerig for the and-one, 24-16 after the made free throw. Off the pass from
Tatum Leuenberger, first-year
Micah Walton from Austin, Texas scored the first shot of her NESCAC career. The Ephs maintained their lead throughout this quarter but sloppy offense led to 6 turnovers. More so, the three-point shooting for the Owls proved difficult for Williams to stop with 3 made threes in the quarter. However, the slashing effort of senior guard
Cortland McBarron brought her to the line three times for a few easy points. She closed the half out strong with a three from the top of the key to give the Ephs a 43-32 lead going into halftime.
In the second half, the Owls were the ones haunted by turnovers with a handful of sloppy passes. The paint-play for the Ephs slowed down in the third but the rebounding from their bigs proved a major advantage. Williams out-rebounded Keene State 46-23 in this game with
Tatum Leuenberger and
Mairi Smith grabbing 8 and 7 boards, respectively. Towards the end of the third, the Eph offense picked up with a flurry of mid-range jumpers from
Micah Walton and
Mairi Smith. Third-year guard
Logan Coster scored her first three of the season off a well-placed down-court pass. That would mark the last bucket of the third with the Ephs being up a comfortable 61-40.
Coming into the fourth determined to put the game away,
Micah Walton's assist into the corner for
Ellie Tounkara led to a quick 3 points. The impressive passing play continued for Williams with three more internal passes leading to successful finishes, 70-47. Sophomore
Hanorah Murphy scored her first and second basket with a wing-three and then an inside finish on the next play. For Keene State, the Williams perimeter defense left just enough space for them to continue getting three-point shots off. However, the Ephs had a much more efficient night from beyond the arc shooting 54%. The Williams bench scored a couple more baskets to grow the lead, totaling an 80-55 victory.
On the win, Eph head coach
Pat Manning, who is entering her 35th season said, "It was a team effort. I was really happy with the efficiency. Also, Cortland did an amazing job off the bench… Rebounding is a big emphasis for us this year and we doubled them in rebounds so I am very happy about that."
Tomorrow at 3 pm the Ephs look to continue their strong start to the season as they play the winner of TCNJ and Framingham State in Chandler Gymnasium.
