Springfield, Mass. - November 20, 2021 - The Springfield College women's basketball program defeated Vassar College, 69-61, in non-conference action on Saturday afternoon at Blake Arena. 

The Pride continue their strong start to the season with a 6-0 record, while Vassar drops to 0-4. Springfield controlled the glass as the Pride hauled in 53 rebounds and outrebounded the Brewers by 22. 

Sam Hourihan (Bridgewater, Mass.) put together a tremendous performance as the junior forward pumped in 20 points, 13 rebounds, and four assists with teammate Sidney Wentland (Elk River, Minn.) contributing another double-double with 11 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, and four blocks. Grace Dzindolet (Holliston, Mass.) scored 15 points and grabbed three steals in the win for the Pride. 

Vassar had four student-athletes score in double figures with Dani Douglas scoring a team-high 18 points in the setback.

Springfield raced out to another great start in the first quarter as the Pride poured on an 11-0 run over the first four minutes of action, which was capped off by a pair of free throws from Rachel Vinton (Rutland, Mass.) at the 6:03 mark. Vassar was able to respond with a run of their own and closed the gap to 11-9 with 4:12 on the clock as Dani Douglas came off a screen and stuck a three from the wing off the assist from Tash Thompson. After the Brewers were able to tie the contest with a pair of free throws, Springfield closed out the stanza with a 6-0 burst to take a 17-11, heading to the second quarter. 

At 7:47 in the second frame, the Pride earned their largest lead of the first half as Wentland scored in the paint to make the score 23-11 for the hosts. A pair of threes from Vassar would edge into the Springfield score, however, the Pride would take a 31-25 lead with Dzindolet scoring a layup with 22 ticks left to allow Springfield to go to the break with a six-point advantage. 

Springfield would get out to a 46-31 lead with 2:08 to go in the third quarter, which proved to be the biggest advantage of the game, as Wentland would score off a feed from Vinton. Following the bucket from Wentland, Vassar would use an 11-3 run to make cut into the deficit courtesy of timly three-point shooting from Julia Harvey, which made the score 49-42 with 32 seconds remaining in the quarter. A bucket from Dzindolet with 13 seconds left gave Vassar enough time to beat the buzzer and make the score 51-45 in favor of the Pride with just one quarter to play. Both Springfield and Vassar scored 20 points in the quarter.

Vassar would get within seven points, at the 6:23 mark in the fourth, as Sarah Gillooly made one of two from the charity stripe to make the score 53-46. The Pride would use an 8-0 spurt to gain separation from the visitors to make the score 61-46 with 3:54 remaining, after Wentland scored through contact on a driving layup. To close the game, Hourihan would score down low and the Pride would shoot five-of-seven from the free throw line to claim the 69-61 victory over Vassar. 

Springfield will head to Williams College on November 23.

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