Williams Moves Past Amherst in Women's Basketball Quarterfinals
Courtesy Williams Sports Information
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Junior forwards Maggie Miller and Meghan O’Malley each scored 17 points Saturday afternoon to lift the Williams College women’s basketball team to a 55-39 win over archrival Amherst in the quarterfinals of the 2006 NESCAC Women’s Basketball Tournament.
No. 5 seeded Williams improved to 21-4 on the season and will face Bates at Bates in the tournament semifinals Feb. 25 at 2 p.m. No. 4 seeded Amherst concludes its season with a 10-15 record.
Katie Latham and Stefanie Reiff led the Jeffs with seven points each.
The first half featured seven lead changes and six ties, but a late 11-2 Williams run turned a 17-15 Amherst lead into a 26-19 advantage for the Ephs, who led at the half, 28-22.
Miller and O’Malley scored 18 (nine each) of their 34 points in the opening half, and nine of the 11 points during the decisive run.
The duo started the second half hot as well, scoring the first eight (four each) points as Williams opened its lead up to 41-26 with 15:53 to go.
Amherst fought back within eight points on buckets inside the paint by Ali Flato, Yasmine Harik and Reiff and trailed 45-37 with 6:43 remaining.
But Williams received a spark from reserve Ellen Wilk, who first assisted on a bucket by Whitney Livermore with a nice over-the-top pass, and then hit on a baseline drive to give the Ephs a double-digit lead again with 4:48 remaining.
Neither team had much success shooting the ball, with Williams holding the Jeffs to 32.7 percent (16 of 49) from the floor, and the Jeffs holding the Ephs to 30.5 percent (18 of 59).
Williams did force 21 turnovers while losing the ball only nine times in the win and hit on 18 of 20 foul shots. Amherst went just 6 of 16 from the charity stripe.
