WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.—At first, the signs seemed the same. The Williams women's basketball team was defending well against Hamilton, but they simply could not buy a basket. After nine minutes, they had scored just six points and trailed by seven.

There was no "Eureka!" moment when the Ephs began clicking offensively on Saturday afternoon, but they got in sync just enough to down the Continentals, 53-44. For the second straight game, the Ephs failed to break 25 points in the first half, an unsettling development for a team that shot 56% from the field just a week ago against Colby. "Offensively we're really struggling," said Williams coach Pat Manning. "We're forcing a lot of things...[and missing] shots we hit every day in practice."

In one sense, this was business as usual for the Ephs, who have beaten Hamilton six straight times and have not lost to the Continentals in Chandler Gym since 1990. Yet this was no cakewalk for the Ephs (15-4, 3-2 NESCAC), as the Continentals limited them to just 2-13 shooting from three-point range and mostly neutralized Williams' dangerous fast-break offense. "They're a team that just plays hard," said Manning on Hamilton. "They came in ready to play."

The Continentals (9-8, 1-4 NESCAC) also got a standout performance from freshman Lauren Getman, who scored a career-high 16 points and carried Hamilton through the early going. Though listed as a swing guard/forward, the freshman set up shop in the paint convincingly, scoring eight of Hamilton's first 10 points and matching up well against both Katie Litman and Oge Uwanaka in the post. A three-pointer from Sam Graber then gave Hamilton a 13-6 lead, the largest either team would hold until late in the second half.

After Graber's three, though, the Continentals went nearly six minutes without scoring, allowing the sluggish Ephs to creep closer and eventually tie the game on a three-point play by freshmanLydia Zaleski, who provided some offensive energy off the bench. In fact, Zaleski was tied withAmanni Fernandez for the team lead in points after the first half—with five. The story was even grimmer from downtown, where the two teams combined to make just 2 of 15 shots. At halftime, the Ephs led 23-21.

The game opened up slightly in the opening minutes of the second half, though in many ways the second period seemed a mirror of the first. Getman got off to another hot start, regaining the lead for Hamilton at 29-27 with a three in front of her own bench; on the flip side, Fernandez figured in the scoring of four straight buckets for the Ephs, sandwiching three assists around a game-tying floater of her own just after Getman's long ball.

It was during this run that Fernandez produced the highlight of the night, in a two-on-one fast break with Ellen Cook. Fernandez collected Cook's pass flying down the right wing and didn't have enough time to get ready to shoot; instead, as the lone Hamilton defender followed her out of bounds, she tossed the ball behind her head straight into the arms of an incredulous Cook, who made the easy layup to put the Ephs up 33-29. "I knew where she was, and I knew I had to make some kind of pass" said Fernandez on her dish to Cook. "It happened to be pretty at that moment."

All in all, Fernandez played one of her most complete games of the season, finishing with 11 points, six rebounds and six assists. Only Cook, with 12 points, scored more for the Ephs. "She's a great passer and she sees the floor so well," said Manning in complimenting her freshman guard. "I thought today she did really well, on both ends of the floor."

Hamilton would tie the game again when Samantha Srinivasan drove to the hoop for a layup of her own. Once again, though, the Continentals found themselves done in by a drought from the field, one even more severe than their first. Over an 11:11 stretch, the Continentals missed all twelve of their field goal attempts, so that by the time Theresa Salud made a long three with 1:21 left on the clock, Hamilton was still down six—a gap that became insurmountable after late free throws from Fernandez and Cook put the game away.

Next up for Hamilton is a trip to Albany College of Pharmacy for their final out-of-conference matchup, on Wednesday evening. The Ephs do not play again until next Friday, when they will travel to Middlebury for their first road game in nearly three weeks.