Waterville, Maine - The Williams College Ephs (13-8), nearing the end of their regular season away games, are in Maine this weekend where today they played the Colby College Mules (11-9). Led by 20 points for
Arianna Gerig and 16 points from
Micah Walton along with strong exterior defense, Williams held their lead the entire game despite Colby's persistence and won 58-46.
On the first possession, Colby converted on an inside basket on a rehearsed play. However, this would be the only lead of the game for them. The Mules would go quiet for most of the quarter while the Ephs responded with a small run led by senior captain
Arianna Gerig's transition offense and shooting from
Tatum Leuenberger, 7-2. After a timeout around the four-minute mark, Colby's offense found its footing with their proficient driving game. Williams would quickly return the favor with
Ellie Tounkara throwing a perfect pass into the paint for Gerig who converted an and-one, 10-6. In the final two plays for the Ephs,
Micah Walton knocked down two catch-and-shoot threes off assists from
Kathleen Smith and
Sarah Pettegrove to grow the lead to 16-8 before the second quarter.
Williams came into the second quarter continuing where they left off with Pettegrove and Walton connecting on self-created close-range opportunities to generate a double-digit lead. The Ephs would control this lead throughout the quarter with valuable contributions from their bench on both offense and defense, including first-year
Skylar Chui who drained a corner three, 25-12. Gerig would have the next four points for Williams with Tounkara setting her up on the drive but in the final two minutes, Colby strung together points by driving and getting to the free-throw line. Heading into halftime, the Ephs led 29-20.
Tatum Leuenberger started things off for the Ephs in the second half with a post-move. She would finish with 9 points. However, out of halftime, the Mules adapted their offense and put a lot of focus on beating Williams's interior defense as they mounted a run of inside plays to shrink the lead to six. Yet for the Ephs,
Mairi Smith stepped up and stretched the floor with a jumper of her own and opened up the paint for Gerig to get down low. On the defensive end, she manned the paint and recorded two blocks. This led to a transition play where Walton connected on another three, 38-29. Despite both teams struggling from the field with neither team finishing above 40% field goal percentage, the Williams passing plays truly proved to be the difference with them having more than twice as many assists than the Mules. Tounkara and Smith were instrumental in setting up opportunities in and outside the paint, 42-30. The Ephs had a small drought to close the quarter but still maintained a respectable 44-36 lead before the fourth quarter.
In most of Williams's games, including their wins, they often lose the three-point battle but this game was a major exception with Colby shooting 0-15 from deep compared to 6-17 for the Ephs. While the Mules are not reliant on their shooting, they seemed overwhelmed by the physical defense they were met with. The start to the fourth was sloppy for Williams with untimely turnovers and Colby managed to shrink the lead back to six. Although when it mattered most, Tounkara, who struggled shooting most of the game, connected on a wing-three off an assist from the driving-and-kicking Gerig. Gerig had another big-time play with an up-and-under scoop shot with the net hanging over her head. Walton, the other top scorer, had a late and-one with a tough finish through a lot of contact to bring the lead back to double-digits with a few minutes remaining, 52-42. A late Williams turnover had the potential to be devastating but Pettegrove, who finished with 3 steals, got it back and set up Gerig for a drive which proved to be the dagger. Williams would win this important NESCAC game 58-46.
On the win and preventing Colby from building momentum, Eph head coach
Pat Manning said, "It really came down to our defense and our rebounding. It was a great performance by Arianna and Micah. Overall Ellie hit a big three and along with Mairi, Sarah, and Tatum, they all had large contributions across the board. That's what was really exciting about this game, everyone was making big plays for us… Momentum started to shift down the end but we kept to our game and shot free throws well. It was a great team win and we have another big game tomorrow."
Williams has a large task in front of them tomorrow as they stay in Maine to play the undefeated #4 ranked Bowdoin Polar Bears at 3 pm.
