Amherst Moves Past Colby for NESCAC Women's Basketball Championship
Courtesy Amherst Sports Information
AMHERST, Mass. – The top-seeded Amherst College
women’s basketball team won its second NESCAC title in three
years on Sunday with a 69-54 victory over second-seeded Colby
College at LeFrak Gymnasium. Amherst stretched an eight-point
halftime lead into a 15-point win. The win improved the Jeffs'
record to 27-0 on the season and increased their home winning
streak to 23 games.
With the win, Amherst joins the
2003-04 Bowdoin women’s team as the only teams in NESCAC
basketball history to complete both the regular season undefeated,
before winning the conference title. Amherst (9-0 NESCAC) earns an
automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Tournament, whileColby (23-4,
7-2 NESCAC) will likely receive an at-large bid to the NCAA
Tournament.
Amherst started the game with a score inside by Lem Atanga
McCormick (Chicago, Ill.) on its first possession, and then took a
4-0 lead as Caroline Stedman (Walpole, Mass.) found junior
co-captain Sarah Leyman (Cincinnati, Ohio) for a transition layup.
Colby responded with a free throw and then a post score from
Julianne Kowalski (Montville, N..J). Samantha Allen (Bridgton,
Maine) hit a step-back three to give Colby an 8-6 lead, but Atanga
McCormick scored in the post and Shannon Finucane (Cortland, N.Y.)
hit a three at the 15:00 minute mark to put Amherst on top
11-8.
The Lord Jeffs opened up a 17-9 lead on an 11-1 scoring run capped
by a nice scoop shot in the lane by Marcia Voigt (Skillman, N.J.)
with 13:07 remaining. Diana Manduca (Portland, Maine) closed the
gap to 17-11 with 12:38 to play, and neither team scored until
Manduca made a pair of free throws at the 10:05 mark. Stedman ended
Amherst’s scoring drought on the next trip, draining a long
three from straight away.
A put-back by Jil Vaughan (Wareham, Maine) with 8:58 remaining cut
Amherst’s lead to 20-17, but Finucane responded with another
triple for the Jeffs. After a stop on the defensive end, Voigt got
out on the break for a lay-up to put Amherst’s lead back up
to 25-17, with 8:04 to play in the first half. Colby head coach
Lori Gear McBride called a timeout following the score, but Voigt
hit a turn-around as the shot clock was winding down to keep
Amherst’s offense going. With 6:35 left in the half, Colby
saw Jackie Renner (Newton, Mass.) make a pair at the charity stripe
to put Amherst up 29-17.
With just 1:04 to play in the half, Allison Cappelloni (Sudbury,
Mass.) made a three from the left wing to close the gap to 34-26.
The bucket proved to be the final score of the half for either
team, as the Jeffs took an eight-point lead into the break. At the
half, Atanga McComick led all players with nine points and eight
rebounds, while Finucane had eight points for the Jeffs. Colby was
led by Cappelloni with seven points in the stanza.
Colby started the second half with a 4-0 run, closing the gap to
34-30 early on. After a pair of free throws by Stedman gave Amherst
a six point lead, Finucane made what has become her trademark play
by diving on a loose ball and calling for a timeout. After Colby
was able to gain a second possession on an offensive rebound as the
shot clock was expiring, Finucane once again poked the ball loose,
hit the floor and called for a timeout.
After seven and a half minutes of play in the second half, each
team had scored just four points in the frame. Jacky McLaughlin
(Medfield, Mass.) ended the scoring drought with just the second
field goal of the half on a three pointer with 11:59 remaining.
Amherst’s first field goal of the half did not come until the
11:10 mark, as Leyman scored on a nice post move.
With 9:41 remaining, Stedman drained her second three of the game
to put the Jeffs back up 45-34. After a turnover by the Mules,
Voigt hit a three from the exact same spot on the left wing, before
putting Amherst up 50-36 on a strong drive down the lane in
traffic.
Colby responded with an 8-0 scoring run, with scores coming from
four different players. Around the six minute mark, both Stedman
and Leyman picked up their fourth fouls for Amherst, putting the
Jeffs in serious foul trouble as they tried to hold off another
Colby comeback. Less than a minute later, Atanga McCormick was
whistled for her fourth foul.
With 4:50 remaining, Finucane hit a three from straight away after
circling the entire half of the floor on the offensive end. The
triple put the Jeffs up 55-46, and finally put a stop to
Colby’s comeback for a moment. After a block on the defensive
end, Leyman scored inside to put Amherst up 57-46 with 3:02
left.
Amherst scored back-to-back buckets following a timeout, but
Aarika Ritchie (Lee, Maine) answered with a three from the left
side with 1:35 left to leave the score at 61-49 in Amherst’s
favor. Finucane made a pair of free throws three seconds later, and
then after a steal by Leyman knocked down another pair with 1:19
left.
In the final minute of the game, Colby was forced to foul as
Amherst made free throws and ran out the clock for a 69-54 win.
Finucane finished the day with a game-high 21 points on a nearly
perfect 5-for-6 shooting performance, including 3-for-3 from beyond
the arc and 8-for-8 at the line. Stedman (12), Voigt (11) and
Leyman (10) all hit double-figures in scoring for Amherst as well,
while Cappelloni and Ritchie combined for 24 points for Colby.
