Springfield, Mass. - January 15, 2022 - The Springfield College women's basketball program opened up New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play with a hard-fought 79-72 win over Wheaton College at the Alumni Health and Living Center on the campus of Western New England University.
Springfield, who was ranked 13th in the latest Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) poll, improves to 14-0 on the season and records its first NEWMAC win. Wheaton drops to 5-7 and 0-1 in the conference standings. Wheaton shot 45.2% from the field, while the Pride outrebounded the Lyons, 39-27. Springfield had 21 assists on 31 baskets in the win.
Sam Hourihan (Bridgewater, Mass.) led all scorers with 24 points and grabbed nine boards. Angela Czeremcha (West Springfield, Mass.) put together a double-double off the bench with 14 points and 11 rebounds, while Sidney Wentland (Elk River, Minn.) pitched in 15 points for the Pride in the win.
Wheaton had four players in double figures on the evening with Sydney Ropes leading the way with 15 points. Riley Sprauge notched 14 points in the setback. The Lyons shot an impressive 43.5% from beyond the arc despite the loss.
Wheaton opened the contest with an 8-2 lead with 8:46 on the clock thanks to three pointers from Greta Minos and Riley Sprague on back-to-back possessions. Springfield tied the game at 8-8 with 5:51 left as Hourihan canned another jumper for the Pride. At 4:00, Wheaton went up 17-13 as Ropes knocked in a three off the skip pass from Minos giving the Lyons a four point edge. After another post move from Hourihan made the score 17-15, Grace Dzindolet (Holliston, Mass.) got a deflection, which turned into a fast break layup on the other for the senior guard and made the game tied at 17 all. Springfield would go ahead at the 1:53 mark in the first as Wentland scored inside to make it 19-17, then, Wentland would faciliate a bucket to a cutting Czerechma to allow Springfield to go up 21-17with 1:21 to play in the opening frame. At 1:03, Dzindolet would cash in a layup to cap off the 8-0 spurt by the Pride, before, the Lyons would close the quarter with an inside move by Ropes making the score 23-19.
Springfield expanded its lead to 32-23 after a pair of free throws from Hourihan at the 7:18 mark, then a three pointer from out front from junior forward made it a nine-point game with 6:43 to go. The Pride were able to grow their lead to double digits as Jaelen Daubon (Hyde Park, N.Y.) drove baseline and dropped off a pass to Wentland for the easy two with 28 seconds remaining. Wheaton scrapped away two baskets in the final 10 seconds to cut into the Pride lead and make the halftime score 44-37.
With 6:54 to play in the third quarter, Sadie Shore made one-of-two from the line, which cut the Pride's lead to 46-44. Springfield was able to push their lead back to 58-49 as Czerechma absorbed the contact and made a pair from the free throw line with 3:28 to go in the third, meanwhile, a pair of layups from Rachel Vinton (Rutland, Mass.) gave the Pride a 63-53 lead going into the fourth.
The Pride saw its double digit lead get cut to 69-65 with 4:40 to go as Sadi Shore made a layup out of a timeout. Springfield was able to gain separation from the Lyons late as Czerechma continued to draw contact and knock in free throws for the Pride. The first-year forward was 4-of-5 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter. With 18 seconds left, Hourihan grabbed an offensive rebound off the only free throw miss from Czerechma in the quarter to seal the victory for the Pride.
Springfield will face Middlebury on Tuesday at 4:30.