Springfield,  Mass. - November 9, 2021 - The Springfield College women's basketball program cruised to a 72-45 road victory over Western New England at the Alumni Healthful Living Center on Tuesday evening. 

Springfield picks up their second win of the season and the Golden Bears drop to 0-1. The Pride were outstanding with their defensive pressure, which resulted in 18 steals on the night. The last time Springfield recorded 18 steals in a game was February 1, 2014. The Pride also dominated inside, outscoring the hosts 48-14 in the paint. 

Springfield was led by a career-best performance from Rachel Vinton (Rutland, Mass.) as the junior guard scored a game-high 22 points on 10-of-14 shooting, hauled in six rebounds, and an remarkable eight steals. Off the bench, Angela Czeremcha (West Springfield, Mass.) put together a 12-point, six-rebound performance, while Sidney Wentland (Elk River, Minn.) stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points, six rebounds, five assists, three steals, and four rejections. 

For the Golden Bears, Abby Garaban scored a team-high 11 points.

Springfield came out of the gate on a 16-0 run, which was carried by Grace Dzindolet (Holliston, Mass.) and Sam Hourihan (Bridgewater, Mass.), then capped off with a fastbreak layup from Stephanie Lyons (Boston, Mass.) at 5:31. After another fastbreak score from Dzindolet, Springfield had ballooned their lead to 25-3 with 2:59 remaining in the quarter. Garaban would knock down a three, then, a pair of free throws with a second on the clock to make the score 25-10 after the first quarter. 

The Pride would start the second period with another 11-2 scoring run and push their lead to 36-12 with 1:58 left in the half as Wentland would scoop up a steal and run the break for the layup. With 40 seconds left in the half, Dzindolet would cash in a pair of free throws to make the lead 38-16 in Springfield's favor. On the final posession of the half, Lindsey Carey would knock in two free throws to make the halftime score 38-18. 

In the third quarter, Vinton began to take over as the Physical Education major recorded nine points and two steals in the frame. Vinton recorded back-to-back steals that turned into scores for Springfield, which made the lead 55-27 with two minutes remaining in the quarter. 

The Pride continued to turn defense into offense and were able to push their lead to 31 after a made jump shot from Czeremcha at 3:04 turned the lead into 72-41, and allowed Springfield to coast to the victory.

Springfield will travel to Maine Maritime this weekend for a Pepsi Invitational and will face Southern Maine on Saturday 3pm. 

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