Boston, Mass. - February 12, 2022 - The Springfield College women's basketball program cruised to a 76-45 win over Emerson College at Steve Bobbi Brown and Steven Plofker Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon in New England Women's And Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC).
Springfield, who entered the game ranked No. 14 in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division III Coaches Poll, adds another victory to the win column and sits at 19-3 and are 5-3 in the league play. Springfield shot 52.5% from the field on 32-of-61 shooting and outrebounded the hosts, 44-30.
The Pride had five players in double figures on the afternoon as Grace Dzindolet (Holliston, Mass.) led all scorers with 14 points on six-of-seven shooting. The efficient scoring continued as Rachel Vinton (Rutland, Mass.) was perfect from the field with 12 points and added six assists with just one turnovers, meanwhile, Sam Hourihan (Bridgewater, Mass) also scored 12 points to go along with nine rebounds, six assists, and three blocks. Sidney Wentland (Elk River, Minn.) pitched in 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Pride in 22 minutes of action.
Chelsea Gibbons led Emerson with 11 points and Katie Beckmann scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the setback. The Lyons were held to just 23.9% shooting and 17.4% shooting from beyond the arc.
Springfield did not waste any time building a lead as the Pride opened up the contest with a 10-0 run highlighted by a pair of buckets from both Wentland and Vinton. The run was capped off by an inside finish from Hourihan to make the score 10-0 with 7:08 to go in the quarter. The lead would grow to 19-4 with 3:16 to go as Hourihan would stick a three off the feed from Jaélen Daubon (Hyde Park, N.Y.). Emerson would cut it to 21-10 with 51 seconds to go off a pair of free throws from Ella Bushee, before, Springfield took a 22-10 lead after Riley Robinson (Adams, Mass.) drew a foul and coverted one of two from the line with 35 ticks remaining.
Ava Salti canned a three for Emerson at the 9:15 mark in the second quarter, to dip into the Springfield lead and make the score 24-13. From there, Springfield would roll on a 15-3 scoring stretch, which included nine points from Dzindolet in the burst. Angela Czeremcha (West Springfield, Mass.) capped off the run with an finish in the paint with 4:36 remaining in the half to improve the lead to 39-16. Springfield would take a 41-22 lead at the half after Vinton scored with 1:24 to play.
In the third quarter, Springfield outscord its opponent, 21-11, by shooting 8-of-16 from the field in the frame. Wentland scored eight points in the quarter, with the latest bucket coming at 3:09 and put the score at 59-31 and forced an Emerson timeout. The lead would grow to 31 after Czeremcha knocked down a pair of free throws with 1:50 remaining to make it 62-31.
Springfield would continue to control the game in the fourth quarter, taking its largest lead of the game of 69-36, at the 4:41 mark, as Kayla Madden (Ashland, Mass.) stepped into a three off the feed from Czeremcha. The large advantaged allowed Springfield to cruise to a 76-45 win.
The Pride will return to Blake Arena on Wednesday for a matchup with Coast Guard at 7:00.
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