Advance Ticket Sale for Saturday's women's games
Lasell Gym lobby accessed from Spring Street
Thurs. (2/21) & Fri. (2/22) -- 10AM – 2:00 PM
Tickets: $5 Adults; $2 Students
Video Link – CLICK HERE
Live Stats -- CLICK HERE
Pat Manning's Williams College women's basketball team (21-4) will face Middlebury College (14-11) in the second half of Saturday's NESCAC Women's Basketball Semifinals being hosted by Amherst College. Williams and Middlebury will play at 7:30 PM, after Amherst College (24-1) and Bowdoin College (14-10) play in a 5:30 PM contest.
Saturday's winners will meet on Sunday at Amherst at 2:30 PM to determine the NESCAC champion and the winner of the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
With the 72-43 win over Wesleyan in the NESCAC Quarterfinal round Pat Manning became the first Eph hoops coach (male or female) to win 400 games and the Ephs extended their current win streak to five.
Senior forward Claire Baecher was nearly unstoppable versus Wesleyan, racking up 26 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the floor. As a team, Williams leads the NESCAC in both field goal percentage (41.6%) and field goal percentage defense (28.4%).
The Ephs have also amassed a league-best 184 blocked shots thanks to 54 apiece from Baecher and classmate Danny Rainer. Baecher leads the team with 13.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game and she recently became the 14th Eph woman to go over 1,000 career points. Meanwhile, guards Grace Rehnquist and Ellen Cook have each added 10.4 points per outing.
Though six teams finished the year with identical 4-6 records in league play, Middlebury ultimately came out on top because of its results in head-to-head matchups. The Panthers took advantage, defeating Bates 75-64 to punch their ticket to the semifinals for the second time in program history. Senior guard Tracy Borsinger set the tone with 18 points and seven rebounds, while junior Laura Lowry added 17 points. Borsinger is currently tied for the league lead with Donahoe at 15.4 points per game. The Panthers have also received a boost from junior guard Scarlett Kirk, who has averaged 10.7 points and 5.6 boards. Classmate Katie Pett is among the league leaders with 8.3 rebounds per outing.
Williams topped the Panthers 81-44 in the 2005 quarterfinals and 62-36 on January 26. Both teams are in search of their first conference crown.
Results for the NESCAC Women's Basketball Championship will be available at the completion of each day on the NESCAC website.
2013 NESCAC Women's Basketball Championship
Quarterfinals – Saturday, February 16 (at Higher Seeds)
#8 Bowdoin def. #1 Tufts, 60-54
#2 Amherst def. #7 Trinity, 80-34
#3 Williams def. #6 Wesleyan, 72-43
#4 Middlebury def. #5 Bates, 75-64
Semifinals – Saturday, February 23 (at Amherst)
#8 Bowdoin at #2 Amherst - 5:30 pm
#4 Middlebury vs. #3 Williams - 7:30 pm
Championship – Sunday, February 24 (at Amherst)
Semifinal Winners – 2:30 pm
