BOSTON, Mass. - No. 14 Williams College handed the Emmanuel College Women's Basketball Team its first loss of the 2010-11 season in the championship game of the 27th Annual Emmanuel College Invitational Tournament. The Ephs defeated the host Saints, 66-50, in a game played in Emmanuel's Jean Yawkey center on Sunday afternoon. With the win, Williams improved to 2-0 on the season, while the Saints fell to 2-1.
The 14th-ranked Ephs controlled the tip and senior forward Chessie Jackson (Goleta, Calif.) knocked down the first bucket of the day. A fast-break play by Emmanuel guards Meghan Kirwan (Melrose, Mass.) and Kristin LeBel (Tolland, Conn.) evened the score at 2-all. A couple quick hoops by Williams and an Emmanuel three-ball by LeBel kept the score close at 7-6 with four minutes gone in the opening period. LeBel scored 7 of the Saints' first 9 points of the game. A put-back by Emmanuel's junior guard Breanna Ockimey (Philadelphia, Pa.) knotted the game at 12-12 with fourteen minutes remaining in the half.
The two teams traded baskets through the ten-minute mark. After a hoop down low by Williams Lisa Jaris (Harrington Park, N.J.), Emmanuel's senior guard Casey Shevlin (Medford, N.Y.) drained a trey to tie the game at 19-all with 9:40 to play in the half. Another Shelvin hoop on the ensuing Emmanuel possession gave the Saints a 21-19 lead, but Williams sophomore guard Grace Rehnquist (Sharon, Mass.) nailed a three to give the edge back to the Ephs (22-21).
A Williams lay-up by Taylor Shea (Allendale, N.J.) tied the game at 25-all with just over three minutes left in the half. A drive and hoop by Emmanuel's sophomore forward Fiona O'Dwyer (Stamford, Conn.) quickly gave the lead back to Emmanuel (27-25) at the two-minute mark. Shevlin then drove and kicked to LeBel, who knocked down a jumper from the right wing, giving the Saints their largest lead of the half at 29-25. A pair of free throws by Rehnquist cut Williams' deficit to 29-27 to end an exciting first half.
The first half featured 9 lead changes and 6 ties, before Emmanuel entered the locker room with a two-point edge. The Saints shot 44.8% (13-29) from the floor in the first half, compared to just 26.3% (10-38) shooting by the Ephs. LeBel shot 4-9 from the floor to lead all scorers with 9 points in the opening frame. Williams was led by sophomore guard Jennie Harding's (Santa Monica, Calif.) 8 first-half points.
Shea opened up the second-half scoring and quickly tied the game again (29-all). A nice feed down low to Shea gave Williams a 33-31 lead at the 17-minute mark and forced a thirty-second timeout by the Saints. LeBel picked off a Williams pass in the key and pulled up at the free throw line to bury a jumper and knot the contest at 35-all with 14 minutes to go. An ensuing hoop and a trifecta by Jackson brought the spread to 40-35, Ephs, and forced an Emmanuel full timeout.
Out of the timeout, Jackson drove and dished to Harding for a hoop and Shea sank a fast-break lay-up to stretch the Ephs' lead to nine points (44-35) with twelve minutes remaining. Another fast-break hoop by Williams, courtesy of sophomore Claire Baecher (Brunswick, Me.) gave the Ephs their first double-figure lead of the game (48-37) and forced an Emmanuel timeout with 10:37 on the clock.
A hoop down low by Shea capped a 27-8 run by the Ephs, which spanned the first twelve minutes of the second half. During the run, the Saints were held scoreless for three minutes, before Kirwan dropped a free throw and Emmanuel trailed 54-38 with 7:40 to go. An and-one, followed by a baseline three-ball by Baecher gave Williams its then largest lead of the game at 62-40, nearing the five-minute mark.
Despite scrappy defense from the Saints and strong play inside by O'Dwyer, Williams held on for the remainder of the game and came away with a 16-point win. The Ephs out-rebounded the Saints, 48-39. Williams shot much better in the second half, knocking down 18 of 30 tries from the floor (60%). The Saints struggled from the floor in the second half, hitting just 7 of their 36 attempts (19.4%).
Jackson led all scorers with 17 points, while also hauling in a game-high 10 rebounds. She led four Williams players in double figures. Shea hit for 14 points to go along with 6 boards. Harding and Baecher added 10 points apiece and combined from 15 boards and 8 assists. Jill Greenberg (Westwood, Mass.) dished out 6 assists for the Ephs before being forced to leave the contest with an injury.
Emmanuel was led by O'Dwyer's 16 points and 7 rebounds. LeBel added 14 points, while Shevlin chipped in with 9 points and 6 rebounds. Kirwan dished out 5 assists for the Saints.
For Williams, Greenberg and Jackson were named to the All-Tournament Team, while Baecher was voted the tournament's Most Valuable Player. For the Saints, Shevlin and O'Dwyer received All-Tournament Team honors. William Smith's Kristen Kush was also named to the All-Tournament Team. In the tournament consolation game, William Smith College defeated the College of Staten Island, 90-57.
Emmanuel will host the Warriors of Eastern Connecticut State University on Tuesday evening in a 7:00 p.m. at the Jean Yawkey Center.