Saratoga Springs, NY - The Williams College Ephs (3-1) were on the road against the Skidmore College Thoroughbreds (2-2). Coming into this game undefeated, the Ephs looked poised to continue their strong start to the season despite the suffocating Skidmore defense. The game saw Skidmore in control for the majority but a late Eph comeback and a buzzer-beater three from
Arianna Gerig forced overtime. However, some untimely fouls and missed shots for Williams led to Skidmore emerging on top 53-49.
Tatum Leuenberger had the first bucket of the game with a wing jumper. Skidmore returned making the same shot and followed up with a top of the key three. The next part of the quarter was back and forth with two strong defensive teams keeping the paint protected. Skidmore put together a tiny run but
Hanorah Murphy's beautiful spin move finish and
Arianna Gerig's two made shots brought it to an 11-10 Skidmore lead.
Williams wasted no time retaking the lead.
Mairi Smith got a steal and passed it off to Gerig, who swung it to
Ellie Tounkara for a triple, 13-10. Skidmore got hot from three this quarter with guard Sarah Chambers making 3 beyond the arc jumpers. Williams matched this with
Logan Coster's contested jumper, 20-17. The Thoroughbreds followed this with a 7-0 run consisting of two drives and another triple, forcing the Eph timeout, 27-17. The issue for the Ephs seemed to be the smothering defense from Skidmore which met them at mid court every possession. So the solution for Williams involved playing the driving game. A drive gave first-year guard
Micah Walton her first two points which would be the last bucket of the half, 27-19.
The Ephs came out of halftime running a play for a Gerig jumper. She finished with 18 points on the night, the leading scorer. Williams mounted a run to get back in the game with Walton and Gerig's mid-range jumpers, 27-25. Skidmore ended the run with their fifth three of the game. The Ephs responded with one of their own to keep it a 2-point differential. However, the Thoroughbreds brought it back to a five-point game making one free-throw and a coast-to-coast drive, 33-28. Unfortunately for the Ephs, Skidmore grew their lead before the end of the third with another three and a drive. Heading into the fourth quarter, Williams was down 38-31.
The game was slipping out of reach for Williams with Skidmore making another drive. The Eph rebounding maintained as a bright spot this season which was especially important toward the end of this game, grabbing 6 more boards than Skidmore. However, Skidmore pushed their lead to 11, the largest so far, but
Cortland McBarron brought it back to single digits with her assist to Leuenberger for the easy lay-up. Another issue for the Ephs was turnovers which have been high this year compared to previous seasons, but tonight it was especially egregious at 20 turnovers. Williams' last chance of the night came from
Kate Keenan who made a wing three with four minutes left, 45-37 Skidmore. The Ephs' hope stayed alive with Leuenberger's free throws and Gerig's inbound interception leading to a lay-up, 45-41. Williams did not look scared in the clutch with Leuenberger making her most important basket of the game with a three off the assist from McBarron, 45-44. After a Thoroughbred free throw, Gerig had two chances to tie the game with good inside looks but she would be the one to make the biggest shot of the Eph season. Down 47-44, the Ephs missed a three but McBarron's rebound and assist made it possible for Gerig's buzzer-beater top of the key three to tie the game and force overtime.
We went into overtime and both teams started scoreless for the first two minutes. Skidmore was in the bonus and they used this to their advantage to grab the lead, picking up free throws from non-shooting fouls by Williams, 52-47. Subsequently, Leuenbeger had two chances at the line and made half of them to shrink the lead to one possession at 52-49. The Ephs had an amazing opportunity to tie the game again but could not make the wide-open three. That would be their last chance. Skidmore made one more free throw for the final score of 53-49.
Eph head coach
Pat Manning had this to say on the upsetting defeat, "We played hard and our rebounding was fantastic. Defense was solid but I just think we couldn't buy a basket and our shooting percentage was not there. We had 16 more shots but we just could not seem to get on a run. Some of that is credit to Skidmore's defense. We were not composed in the first half offensively but we were much better in the second half. We will reboot and get ready for the next one."
The Ephs look to rally from this loss and will continue their road trip in their next game on Tuesday, November 26th at 5 pm against Smith College.Â
Â
