Hartford, Conn. – The visiting Smith College Pioneers shot 51 percent from the field and 82.4 percent from the foul line in a 69-57 win over the Trinity College Bantams in women's basketball action this evening on Ogrodnik Court in Oosting Gymnasium.  Trinity falls to 10-10 with its third loss in five days, while the Pioneers improve to 8-14 with their first win in six games.  Bantam senior captain center Mackenzie Griffin (Stamford, Conn.) scored 15 points and reached 1,000 points in her Trinity career with a layup on the first possession of the fourth quarter.  She becomes the 10th player in Trinity history and the first since Michelle Royals in 2012 to reach the impressive milestone, and has 1,001 points in 84 games with three left on the schedule.

Trinity could not recover from a 7-0 deficit in the opening 3:15 of the game, as the Pioneers led wire to wire.  Rookie forward Erin Cunningham (Wilton, Conn.) made a free throw with four minutes left in the first quarter to make the score, 10-7, in Smith's favor but the visitors scored the final 12 points before the first break and maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way.  Pioneer sophomore guardPaige Marquez (San Francisco, Calif.) scored five points during Smith 12-0 run, Smith finished the first half with a 59.1 field-goal percentage.

The Bantams found themselves down, 49-26, with four minutes remaining in the third quarter, after a drive by Smith sophomore Amanda Barriscale (Mill Valley, Calif.), but rallied with a 16-4 spurt, including Griffin's 1,000th point, to cut the deficit to 53-42 on a Cunningham drive on the baseline.  Smith answered and went back ahead by 20 at 65-45 on a fast-break layup by rookie Kennedy Guest-Pritchett (Fairburn, Ga.) with 3:50 left to play.  Trinity battled down the stretch to outscore Smith, 12-4 for the rest of the quarter and a long trey by sophomore guard Aubree Udell (Chester, N.J.) as time expired ended the game at 69-57.

Griffin was the lone Bantam in double figures in scoring and added team-highs of eight rebounds and three steals, while junior guardSheena Landy (Durham, Conn.) totaled nine points and four assists, and senior Alexa Menard (Wallingford, Conn.) dished five assists.  Marquez and Guest-Pritchett had 12 points apiece for the Pioneers, while Guest-Pritchett also grabbed a game-high nine boards.  Smith finished with a 34-to-28 edge on the glass, while the game featured 35 combined turnovers and 43 combined fouls by the two teams.