HARTFORD, Conn—364 days ago, the undefeated Williams women's basketball team arrived in Hartford to face Trinity and shot just 20.3% from the field, their lowest single-game shooting percentage since at least 2007, the earliest year for which records are available. The Ephs lost that night, 65-49.
Tonight, Pat Manning's Ephs again traveled south for their conference opener, this time with a loss already on their ledger and with last year's contest on their minds. "All week long, our focus was on Trinity," said Manning. "This gym has given us trouble in the past, and they [Trinity] always come right at you."
When the final horn sounded, four Ephs had scored in double figures to lead Williams (12-1, 1-0 NESCAC) to a resounding 71-53 over the Bantams (4-7, 0-1 NESCAC). As a team, the Ephs shot 55.1% from the floor, giving them their best shooting night since December 2011.
Call it flipping the script, a role reversal, whatever cliché suits you best. ("Total opposite," said Manning.) No matter how you slice it, this game couldn't have been more different from last year's.
Last year, the Ephs took almost 10 minutes to get on the scoreboard and gave the Bantams a 14-0 head start in the process. Tonight, just 26 seconds elapsed before Amanni Fernandez put home a layup to give Williams the game's first points. Last year, the Ephs slowly clawed their way to within three points of Trinity before losing steam in the game's final 15 minutes. Tonight, they trailed for a mere 50 seconds in the first half, entered the break with a 10-point lead, then maintained their double-digit advantage for the entirety of the second period while their lead grew as large as 23 points.
Lauren McCall led Williams with 15 points off the bench. She was closely followed by Ellen Cook (14 points), Devon Caveney (10), and Kellie Macdonald (10), who made all five of her field goal attempts. Trinity's Mackenzie Griffin led all scorers with 20 points.
With the win, the Ephs earned their fourth 12-1 start in their last five season. The only outlier of that bunch is the team's 2012-2013 campaign, in which the Ephs started 11-2—and earned the team's first-ever Final Four berth. It's a run that Manning calls "crazy."
Yet they have little time to enjoy their crazy milestone. A clash at archnemesis Amherst, owners of an NCAA-record 104-game home winning streak, is less than a day away. Manning, speaking from the team bus as the Ephs made their way back to Massachusetts, acknowledged that a win tomorrow would be "unbelievable" but noted that the Ephs like their chances. "We play tournaments with back-to-back games at the beginning of the year to get ready for this," said Manning. "[And] I feel like we're really starting to click."
The Ephs tip off at 3pm tomorrow afternoon in Amherst's LeFrak Gym.