Ephs drop a game to Western Connecticut, 68-48
Jessica Harris '11
DANBURY, CT. – It seems that every time the Williams women’s basketball takes a step forward, they take another step back a few days later. After a solid weekend of play against conference opponents Wesleyan and Connecticut College, in which the Ephs (7-12) picked up two much-needed victories to even their conference record, the team suffered another crushing defeat at the hands of non-conference foe Western Connecticut (15-3), 68-48.
“We were not the team that played in Chandler,” said Williams head coach Pat Manning. “Western Connecticut is a very good team and they played great. We started off well and had the lead briefly, but then they went on a run and we never recovered.”
The score remained neck-and-neck for the opening ten minutes of play, before the Colonials kept the Ephs scoreless for a five-minute stint to take a 23-15 lead. While Williams had held a five-point lead at the 14:48 mark, they could not build on it. In the final half of the first period, Williams scored only 3 points, as Western Connecticut pulled away to hold a 32-18 advantage at the break.
“It was that typical performance where we got down and then fell apart easily,” continued Manning. “It was a very frustrating night, because it was just another all around an inconsistent performance. We had made such strides and just didn’t follow through tonight.”
The Colonials continued to dominate on the offensive end, scoring the first seven points of the second half to notch a 21-point lead. The Ephs crawled back into the game, trailing by only eleven points at the 14:53 mark, but fell back out of contention just as quickly. Western Connecticut led by as many as 22 points with 4:22 on the clock, on a good shooting night from the floor going 26-of-56 (46.4%).
The Ephs were successfully on only one of six shots from behind the arc, and turned the ball over 28 times. Jessica Harris led all scorers with 14 points, and 7 rebounds. Jill Greenberg added 10 points.
Alyssa McGhee led the Colonials with 13 points, while Melissa Teel and Katie Moffo added 11 and 9 points respectively.
Williams will return home to face off against Middlebury on Saturday at 2:00.
