WESTFIELD, MA.- The Williams women’s basketball team (4-1) extended their early season win streak to four games, topping cross-state opponent Westfield State (4-2) in a 67-64 result that came down to the wire. Junior Chessie Jackson continues to lead the Ephs charge, scoring a team-high for the fourth consecutive game with 24 points.
“We started off really well and everything started to click in the beginning,” said Williams’ head coach Pat Manning. “Midway through the first half we had a lot of inconsistency on the defensive end.”
Despite any defensive slip ups in the first period, the Ephs managed to head into the locker room with a 9 point lead at 29-20. Williams had led by as many as fifteen points with 7:28 left in the opening half following two buckets by Danny Rainer off the bench.
The Ephs offense remained consistent throughout the entire forty minutes, shooting 41.9% from the floor in the first half and 38.7% in the second half. Westfield State was able to crawl back into the game due to a more explosive offensive attack in the latter period, going 17-of-30 from the floor.
“In the second half, Westfield [State] had two kids who did a damage inside,” continued Manning. “We weren’t as smooth as we needed to be in the last twenty minutes.”
Williams revived another solid lead early after the halftime whistle, leading 34-20 just 1:22 after the break. The Owls chipped away at the lead, narrowing the lead to single-digits off a lay up by Jenny Bell. The Ephs followed with a solid ten minutes of play, staving off a rapid comeback by building an 11-point margin with just over five minutes in regulation.
Four turnovers in the next two minutes allowed Westfield State to get within three points with 3:04 on the clock. With 1:08 to play, Williams led by just one at 63-62. Taylor Shea scored two off a lay up, and Jill Greenberg hit the back end of her two shots at the foul line to regain a four point lead with 17 seconds left.
Two free throws from Sarah Boudreau brought the Owls back within two points with 12 seconds left, but the Ephs managed to hold on after Greenberg tallied another point at the line to close out the game at 67-64.
Shea tallied a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Jill Greenberg chipped in with ten at the point position, while Lisa Jaris added a solid 8 points and 6 rebounds.
“Overall this was a big win against a good team,” said Manning. “It is always tough to win on the road, and this was a great game for us to really learn a lot from. It was one of the closer games we have had lately, and we were able to execute in crunch time so can take a lot of positives from this game.”
Ashley Finnegan and Christal Bello led the Owls with 16 points each. Angela Paterson contributed with 9 points and 7 rebounds, while teammate Cassy Jouannet added 8 points.
