WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – The Williams College women's basketball team picked up an 81-58 victory at home on Saturday afternoon against the Curry Colonels. The Ephs rode strong defense and exceptional outside shooting to a comfortable win.
With the outcome, the Ephs move to 10-10 on the season, while Curry drops to 2-17.
The game was competitive early, with Curry holding a 7-6 edge through the first three minutes of play. From there, however, the Ephs took it up a notch on both ends.
First,
Micah Walton made a hard move and drilled her second mid-range jumper of the game to put the Ephs ahead 8-7. Then, after checking in off the bench,
Logan Coster immediately drained a left-wing 3-pointer with 4:55 remaining in the first quarter.
A few minutes later,
Tatum Leuenberger knocked down two wing treys on consecutive possessions to extend the Ephs' advantage to 19-7. A
Kathleen Smith flip layup closed the first quarter to put Williams ahead 21-9 and conclude a 14-2 run over the final seven minutes of the first quarter.
The Ephs kept the defensive pressure on in the second quarter. Initially, the Colonels found some success to cut the lead to single digits at 23-14. In response, Walton connected on another mid-range jumper to push the lead back to 25-14 with 6:21 left in the half. Then, she brought the ball upcourt and found
Jess Roy for a corner 3-point shot to put the Ephs ahead 28-14, before hitting another baseline jumper to up the lead to 30-14 with 4:30 to go.
Curry battled back again to cut the lead to 34-21 with three minutes left in the half, before the Ephs finished with a flurry.
Hanorah Murphy hit a left-wing, mid-range jumper, and then
Hannah Surrette knocked down a pair of free throws to give Williams a 38-21 lead.
With the half winding down, Walton drove inside and kicked out to Surrette, who splashed home a corner triple to give Williams a 41-23 halftime lead.
Williams opened the second half with a Leuenberger triple to take a 44-23 lead. Over the ensuing six minutes, however, Curry cut into the gap with a steady 16-6 run. A Lauren Morse triple for the Colonels made it 50-39 with 3:27 to play in the third quarter.
Again, the Ephs closed the quarter strong. Walton connected on a wing 3-pointer to make it 53-39, and then
Mairi Smith rebounded her own miss and finished an old-fashioned, 3-point play through contact to make the score 56-41 with just over a minute left in the third. A driving Walton layup finished the quarter with the Ephs on an 8-2 run and gave the team a 58-41 lead.
The lead was safe from there as the Ephs kept shooting the lights out in the fourth quarter. Leuenberger nailed her fourth 3-pointer of the game, while Coster knocked down her second and third 3-point shots, and the advantage grew to 26 points before an eventual 81-58 win.
The Ephs finished the day 10 of 16 on 3-point shots, good for 62.5%. The team also held Curry to a 3-for-17 performance behind the arc, with that difference providing nearly the entire margin of victory.
Leuenberger led the team with 16 points, going 4 for 5 from 3-point range. Walton had 15 points and seven assists. Koster and
Kathleen Smith joined their teammates in double figures with 11 and 10, respectively. Eleven different Ephs finished in the scoring column on Saturday.
Williams returns to action on Friday at 7 p.m in a home matchup against Colby.
