Williams Women's Basketball Storms to Victory
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NORTHAMPTON, Mass. — Nothing against Smith College has come easily for the Williams women's basketball team in the last two seasons, especially not in the first half. Two years ago, the Pioneers led by 11 at the half and held off the Final Four-bound Ephs in a gritty 53-49 technical knockout; last season, Smith raced to 14-point halftime lead before the Ephs rallied for an 89-80 triumph.
On Tuesday evening, the Ephs dealt with no similar first half issues — or issues of any kind, really — as they stormed out to a 16-0 lead in the game's opening minutes and rolled to an impressive 86-49 win in Ainsworth Gym. Their attack was a balanced one: Devon Caveney, Ellen Cook andLauren McCall paced the Ephs (3-0) with 15 points apiece. 11 of 12 Ephs made at least one shot from the field, with the only outlier from that group, junior MaryKate O'Brien, chipping in with four assists.
"Everything kind of clicked," said Williams coach Pat Manning after the game. "We've had really tough games with Smith in the past, and the team has remembered that. Everyone was really focused tonight."
Freshman Samantha Alakai, buoyed by a hot hand from beyond the arc that saw her drain five of six three-point attempts, led all scorers with 21 points for the Pioneers (1-2), who dropped their second straight contest to a NESCAC opponent after falling to Middlebury on Sunday.
The Ephs began the game looking to press in transition and sprinted towards the basket like a 4x100 meter track team, passing the ball as seamlessly as a baton in the offensive end and earning acres of space in the paint for their efforts. Setting the tone for the Ephs on each trip up the court was Amanni Fernandez, making her first collegiate start at point guard. "Amanni did a tremendous job of setting the pace," said Manning on the freshman, whose five points on 2-for-8 shooting belied her contribution on the evning. "She really gets us moving, and everybody ran the floor well."
Also enjoying a breakout game for the Ephs was co-captain Cook, who snapped out of her weekend shooting funk and shot 6-of-7 overall on the evening. The senior stole a pass cleanly and went coast-to-coast to score a critically deflating layup and put the Ephs up 11 after the Pioneers burned their first timeout early and also notched five rebounds and a team-leading five assists on the evening.
Perhaps no play better epitomized the Ephs' first half than Cook's basket just over 10 minutes into the game. The sequence began following a Smith turnover, when O'Brien launched a long pass up the floor to Kellie McDonald, who immediately passed back to Cook. In turn, Cook charged to the foul line, lobbed a pass to Litman standing adjacent to the Smith bench, then got a return pass from just outside the arc, drove in three steps and hit a pull-up jumper. All of this took nine seconds; in that span, the ball touched the floor three times. "We were playing the style that we wanted to play," said Manning.
While the Pioneers stayed with the Ephs for the opening portion of the second half, Williams eventually widened its advantage to as large as 41, thanks in part to strong performances from reserves Kristin Fechtelkotter and Lydia Zaleski, who shot 7-of-8 combined—mostly off layups in the paint—in just 14 second-half minutes. Overall, the Eph bench tallied a whopping 39 points and has scored almost exactly half (107-220) of Williams' points in their first three games. "The depth of our team showed through tonight," said Williams coach Pat Manning, sounding what has already become a familiar refrain on the young season.
The Ephs, now 3-0 for the fifth straight season, return to Williamstown for a three-game homestand. The first of those contests is Friday at 6:00p.m., when the Ephs will face off against Worcester State in their home opener.
