MIDDLETOWN, CONN.— The Williams College Ephs (10-13, 2-7, NESCAC) re-built their 12-point lead after the Cardinals made a come back. The Ephs expanded their lead in the 3
rd quarter and took down the Wesleyan University Cardinals (10-10, 1-7, NESCAC) 73-62 this afternoon.
Ephs
Tatum Leuenberger,
Mairi Smith, and
Arianna Gerig performed explosively for their team today. First-year
Tatum Leuenberger achieved a double double with 12 points, 6 from 2 timely 3-pointers, 13 rebounds and added 4 assists. First-year
Mairi Smith scored 17 points with 6 rebounds and 2 timely blocks. Junior
Arianna Gerig continued to build on a great season with 20 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 major, shutdown blocks. Juniors
Cortland McBarron and
Kate Keenan added to their team's efforts with three 3-pointers collectively on the afternoon.
Scoring the first Ephs' points of the game, first-year
Tatum Leuenberger passed into the key to first-year
Mairi Smith who dribbled once and put the ball up for 2. Captain
Ellie Tounkara followed up a teammate's missed basket by cutting into the key and scoring on the follow-up. Junior
Arianna Gerig drove underneath the basket from the right-side of the key and passed to sophomore
Logan Coster as she cut into the key from the left-side. Coster hooked the ball up and scored and then converted the and 1 to bring the Ephs' lead to 7, 17-10. For the final Eph points of the quarter, guard
Arianna Gerig dribbled down the court and found guard
Tatum Leuenberger. Leuenberger quick-released and drained the 3-pointer to end the quarter with the Ephs ahead 22-12.
Guard
Logan Coster crossed over from the left-side of the lane to the right side and around her defender to lay it in for 2. Junior
Kate Keenan passed over the defense to forward
Mairi Smith who dribbled to push her defender back and turned around to score.
Mairi Smith passed from the top of the key down to junior
Cortland McBarron on the baseline. From the deep left, McBarron sank the 3-pointer, bringing her team back within 2 of the Cardinals after the Cardinals 15-point run in the first half of the quarter.
Arianna Gerig drove her team forward with a 6-point run of her own with 3 consecutive lay-ups. The half ended with the Ephs holding the lead 36-32.
Mairi Smith had 11 points in the half.
The Cardinals had worked their way back in the first half, trailing by just four points at the break, but the Ephs took off running and had an explosive 3
rd quarter outscoring the Cardinals 24-10 and re-building their large lead.
Tatum Leuenberger drove underneath the basket. As she faded away, she passed to
Mairi Smith right under the basket who scored. From the top of the key
Tatum Leuenberger drained a shot from the arc off a pass from
Cortland McBarron and upped the Ephs' lead to 41-34. Both
Tatum Leuenberger and
Ellie Tounkara aced their two free throws to increase the Ephs lead to 11.
Arianna Gerig took the ball coast-to-coast for a lay-up and scored 2 free throws on the following play.
Logan Coster from the left-side of the arc passed to
Cortland McBarron at the top of the arc. She drained the 3 and her whole team jumped up from the bench to celebrate the shot.
Mairi Smith scored a 2, delivering the Ephs their biggest lead of the night at 20. Tt the end of the third quarter the Eps led 60-42.
ITo open the fourth quarter, Wesleyan scored a basket, and Eph guard
Kate Keenan immediately answered back with an exclamation point 3, bringing the Ephs to 63-44.
Mairi Smith, from just inside the arc, knocked it down a 2.
Tatum Leuenberger scored a pull-up 2; her team's play pulled Cardinals' defense to the left-side of the key, and she dribbled through to near the foul line and hit an open shot. As a duo again,
Mairi Smith found
Arianna Gerig underneath for the assured bucket, putting the Ephs up 15.
Eph head coach
Pat Manning commented, "I think
Mairi Smith played the best game she's played all season. She was 8 for 9, 17 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists. She really did a great job. You know,
Arianna Gerig got it done in every aspect. Her defense was very strong and she had 20 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, and 4 steals. Tatum was another one. She came up with some key shots with a double double, 13 rebounds and 12 points. I think overall, Cortland hit a key three, and Kate hit a key three, and Ellie hit a key drive, and Logan came off the bench and gave us 9 points. So, it was a great team win getting back on track, really, after a poor performance last night. To be able to rebound this quickly is really special for us. We have been having our struggles lately. For everybody to rally together and play great team offense and defense is really exciting for us today."
The Ephs will play their last regular season league contest in New London, Connecticut against Connecticut College on February 11
th at 1pm.
