NORTHAMPTON, Mass.—Junior Paulina Solis (Santa Ana, Calif.) scored a team-high 17 points and first-year Mandy Castro (San Diego, Calif.) came off the bench to score 10 of her 14 points in the first half as top-seeded Smith College hung on to defeat fifth-seeded Babson College, 64-58, in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) semifinals on Saturday afternoon at Ainsworth Gym.

With its eighth consecutive victory, Smith is now 16-10 overall and advances to Sunday's title game for the third time in the last four seasons. Babson, the five-time defending league champions, sees its season come to a close at 14-13.

First-year Jennifer Narlee (Medfield, Mass.) led all scorers with 20 points on 10-of-12 shooting while also grabbing seven rebounds for the Beavers. Sophmore Linnett Graber (Roseland, N.J.) had eight points and a team-high nine boards, while junior Erin Young (Westwood, Mass.) chipped in with eight points off the bench.

Senior Rosa Drummond (Rye, N.H.), despite a 2-for-10 performance from the field, had nine points and seven rebounds for the Pioneers. Senior Sydney Parkmond (Waterbury, Conn.) contributed seven points and six boards in the win.

Smith emerged from a first-half that featured five ties and four lead changes with a 37-35 lead. Trailing 15-10 at the 13:25 mark after a free throw by Pickering, the Pioneers ripped off an 11-0 run sparked by a pair of three-pointers from Castro and another triple from Drummond to go ahead 21-15 with 8:50 left before halftime.

Babson trailed by as many as eight at 27-19, but used a quick 12-0 burst to move back in front 31-27 with 3:43 remaining in the stanza. Narlee converted three straight times in the paint and Young knocked down back-to-back three-pointers, the second coming off a Narlee offensive rebound, to cap the run.

The Pioneers made just two field goals over the final 8:12 of the half, but used six free late free throws to surge back ahead going into the locker room. The Beavers overcame 15 first-half turnover by shooting 58.3 percent (14-of-24) from the field . Smith outscored the Green and White 20-13 off turnovers.

Smith opened its biggest lead of the game at 45-37 with an 8-2 run out of halftime. Parkmond scored four points and senior Marissa Munoz-Ruiz (Fairfield, Conn.) added a bucket, all following offensive rebounds.

Despite making just a pair of field goals in the first 10 minutes of the stanza, a layup by sophomoreJess Coelho (Westport, Conn.) got Babson within 49-43 at the 10:09 mark. Coelho then knocked down a short baseline jumper in between a pair of buckets from Narlee as the Beavers got cut the deficit to 51-49 with 7:09 to play.

Drummond buried a three-pointer for the Pioneers and then followed another hoop by Narlee with two free throws to push the hosts' lead back to 56-51 with just under six minutes to go. First-yearGiovanna Pickering (Hull, Mass.) drained a short jumper and three possessions later converted a layup after a steal to make it a two-point game, 58-56 with 2:59 left.

Unfortunately, it was as close as Babson would get in the closing minutes. Solis knocked down a pair of free throws following a loose-ball foul to make it four-point game with 2:23 to go. The Beavers misfired on their next three possessions and Castro put the game away with two more free throws with 28 seconds remaining.

The Green and White struggled from the floor in the second half shooting just 23.1 percent (9-for-39). The Beavers held a 23-22 edge in points off turnovers but were outscored 19-10 at the free throw line.

GAME NOTES: Babson is now 32-11 all-time against Smith, including a 4-1 mark against the Pioneers in postseason play…Saturday's loss snapped the Beavers' 13-game NEWMAC Tournament winning streak…the Green and White will miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2008 after winning five consecutive conference titles.