Williamstown, MA - It was the second game of the season for the Williams College Ephs (2-0) and the back-to-back Marin Memorial Tournament. The Ephs and The College of New Jersey Lions (2-1) won yesterday to earn their place in this championship game. In a hard-fought close game, the Ephs maintained their composure down the stretch and with credit to tournament MVP
Arianna Gerig's play, Williams won 55-49.
After an early three from the Lions, the Ephs looked determined to tighten their perimeter defense, one of their weaknesses last game. A steal from
Arianna Gerig who had 19 points last night, saw her driving cross-court earning the foul. The Ephs kept working their bread and butter, the painted area, converting a few more drives, 12-8. Another bright spot for the Ephs was first-year forward from California
Skylar Chui, who played strong offensive and defensive minutes off the bench, showing no fear on the drive. However, the Lions had 3 three-pointers in the quarter which kept them competitive with the interior play from the Ephs, 18-16 heading into the second.
TCNJ made a quick three to take the lead but a beautiful inside feed from
Tatum Leuenberger to
Mairi Smith put the Ephs right back on top. Senior captain
Ellie Tounkara added to this lead with her sharp shooting and baseline drives, 24-19. She finished with 12 points on the night. For the next few minutes, both teams went mostly scoreless until first-year starting point guard
Micah Walton made a corner three. The Lions responded with a three and a post-move basket, leaving the game tied 28-28 going into the half.
Williams came out of halftime focusing their efforts on the paint with Smith and Gerig getting down low and converting on the finish. Gerig in particular demonstrated her handle this weekend, taking the ball cross-court multiple times in transition off of rebounds. Given she's the starting big, this is a promising sign for the Ephs. This interior offense and hustle defense gave the Ephs a small 37-33 lead halfway into the third. In a quarter mostly dictated by sloppy turnovers for both sides, a contested mid-range jumper for Walton and a post-hook from Smith grew the lead to 41-33 before the final 10 minutes.
The Lions wasted no time getting back into the game with a quick three and two subsequent drives tying the game at 41. It stayed neck-and-neck for the next few possessions with points coming on successful drives and made free throws. With three minutes left, the game was even at 46 until TCNJ scored a wing-three. Walton responded with a free throw and Gerig finished on the inside after
Cortland McBarron's steal on the defensive end. The Ephs kept rolling with a strong defensive effort turning into Leuenberger's pull-up three. It was 52-49 with one minute left to play. It would be impossible to talk about this game without mentioning Gerig's defensive play, on the night she had 9 rebounds on the game and 2 blocks in the fourth quarter. She would be the one to put the game away for the Ephs making both free throws to put the game out of reach. The final score was 55-49.
On her team's clutch play, Eph head coach
Pat Manning said "They were deadly from three and nothing was easy. So I was really happy with our composure… we made good choices… I was really happy with Micah and Ellie who elevated their games today. It was a team effort and I am happy that this early in the season we could pull out a game like that against a really good team." With this win the Ephs won the Marin Memorial Tournament with
Micah Walton, who had 14 points, named to the All-Tournament Team, and
Arianna Gerig named MVP.
The Ephs look to keep this momentum in their next game against the University of Hartford at home on Wednesday, November 20th at 7 pm.
