Pat Manning’s Williams women’s basketball team (20-8/7-2 NESCAC) finished the season ranked 19th in the nation in the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) final poll.
The Ephs finished the NESCAC regular season tied for second in NESCAC and seemingly on the verge of securing an NCAA Tournament berth. However, Bates upset the Ephs at home in the quarterfinals of the NESCAC Tournament and a painful waiting period for the Ephs began.
Manning’s Ephs were awarded an at-large berth and sent to play at Ithaca College vs. Mt. St. Mary (NY). Despite having had several days off thinking their season may be over, the Ephs upset Mt. St. Mary in the first round 62-56 behind 16 points from Jill Greenberg who led a quartet of Ephs in double figures.
Next the Ephs upset DeSales University 94-77 with juniors Taylor Shea (24) and Chessie Jackson (23) leading the way on offense.
The Eph season ended in the Sweet Sixteen when they lost at arch rival Amherst 71-66, after leading most of the game.
The future looks bright for the Ephs as they will return all but one player from this year’s roster and they will have all five starters back and eight players who played at least 14 minutes a game.
Junior Chessie Jackson became the 14th Eph female player to surpass the 1,00 point plateau and now has 1,034 in her career.
The Ephs were one of five NESCAC teams to be ranked in the WBCA season-ending poll.
