WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team  cut a 23-point second-half deficit in half with a 17-5 run before dropping a 63-47 decision to Williams College Thursday night at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

 Eastern  (6-10) spotted Williams (15-2) the first 12 points of the game and trailed by 23 three minutes into the second half before outscoring the Ephs by 12 over seven minutes to pull to within a bucket of slicing the deficit to single digits. Williams is ranked No. 23 nationally

 After shooting 26.1 percent and turning the ball over 11 times in the first half, Eastern outscored the visitors by five in the second half by shooting 48.0 percent from the floor. Shut out in the first half and limited to just three field goal attempts, Eastern freshman forward Shannon McCourt  responded with 15 points (6-for-10 from the floor) and eight rebounds in the second half to lead the Warriors. McCourt led all players with 13 rebounds for her eighth double-double in as many starts and ninth in 15 games this year.

 On its first ten possessions of the game, Eastern missed six shots and turned the ball over four times. Williams' first three field goals came from beyond the three-point arc, with freshman forward Kellie Macdonald sinking the first two and senior guard Jill Greenberg the third.

 Freshman point guard Kristina Forsman had seven points and a career-high eight rebounds as the Warriors battled Williams – which features six six-footers on its roster – to a standstill on the boards.

Freshman guard Taylor McBride followed McCourt by tying her career high with ten points to go aloing with six assists and five rebounds.

 Junior guard Grace Rehnquist came off the bench to score a game-high 17 points and grab a team-high seven rebounds in 20 minutes for Williams, which evens the all-time series with Eastern 2-2 with its second straight win. Junior forward Danny Rainer (Marlborough, MA) added 12 points, six rebounds and four steals for the Ephs and Macdonald and Greenberg chipping in ten each. Greenberg also had five assists, three rebounds and three steals.

 Eastern junior guard Samantha Riccio (Avon), the team's only returning player from a year ago, left the game with 2:29 left after injuring her knee. She did not return.

 Eastern visits the University of Southern Maine Saturday at 1 p.m. in a Little East Conference game.