Ephs drop season opener, 73-64

Box Score

BABSON PARK, MA — The Williams College women’s basketball team opened its season Saturday night with a 73-64 loss to Western New England College at the Babson College Invitational Tournament.

The Ephs (0-1) will face the University of New England in the consolation game of the tournament Sunday at 1 p.m.

“We’re going to build on this,” said Ephs head coach Pat Manning. “We’re going to focus on the positive things we saw tonight, but we were hurt by our inconsistent play. I give a whole lot of credit to Western New England, they came out very determined and played hard every play. We didn’t.”

Williams trailed by six at the half, 38-32, but came out of the locker room on fire and tied the score at 44 with 14:40 remaining in the contest. First-year Taylor Shea’s lay-up off an assists from Dominique de la Torre tied the score.

But Western New England gained control in the following minutes, going on a 7-0 run at one point to build a 53-45 advantage. WNEC forward Jen Dabrowski scored 16 of her game-high 22 points in the second half.

The Ephs trailed by as much as eight, but cut the lead to five points twice down the stretch, once when de la Torre drained two free throws and for the final time with 3:34 remaining when first-year Chessie Jackson nailed a three-pointer to make it a 65-60 game.

Williams had four possessions with a chance to cut into that five-point deficit, but could not convert. First-year Taylor Shea missed a lay-up, senior Niki Savageau missed the front end of a 1-and-1, junior captain Mika Peterman had a jumper blocked, and Shea had a jumper blocked.

“We played well in spurts, but we had too many lulls defensively,” Manning said. “We gave them too many second-chance baskets, and when we made a mistake defensively, we let it carry over to our offensive possessions and we forced things.”

WNEC then made 8 of 10 free throws over the final 1:01 to seal the Ephs fate.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair with neither team leading by more than four points until a Belowsky lay-up with eight seconds remaining. Belowsky netted a team-high 13 points in the first 20 minutes.

Williams stayed with the Golden Bears despite turning the ball over 12 times and shooting only 33 percent (4 of 12) from the foul line. Jackson made an impressive debut, scoring 10 points in the first 7:08 of her collegiate career — and the team’s first eight points of the season — to help the Ephs build a 13-9 advantage.

The Ephs finished only 8 of 19 from the free throw line while getting outrebounded 47-38 and turning the ball over 20 times. Jackson led the team with 17 points and eight rebounds. Savageau finished with 14 points, six assists and three steals. Peterman added 13 points.
Belowsky finished with 16 points and nine rebounds for WNEC.