Babson Park, Mass. - February 25, 2022 - The Springfield College women's basketball program fell in the New England Women's And Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Women's Basketball Championship Tournament Semifinal on Friday night at Staake Gymnasium to Babson College with a final score of 70-53.

Springfield, who is ranked in a pair of national polls and finished the regular season as high as No. 18 in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division III National Coaches Poll, will await to see if it receives an at-large berth into the 2022 Division III Women's Basketball NCAA Tournament. The selection show will air on Monday on NCAA.com.

Sam Hourihan (Bridgewater, Mass.) was Springfield's leading scorer finishing with 18 points and eight rebounds. Angela Czeremcha (West Springfield, Mass.) added 10 points, five rebounds, and four steals. As a team, Springfield outrebounded Babson, 44-39 and forced 18 Beaver turnovers. 

Megan Bauman led all scorers with 23 points and six rebounds, while Kelly Walsh poured in 13 points all in the second half.

Babson took off to a 19-11 lead with 2:22 on the clock as the Beavers Madison Odam scored on a putback in traffic to give the hosts a eight point advantage. Springfield clipped into the Beavers' lead as Rachel Vinton (Rutland, Mass.) kicked to Hourihan for a three from the slot to make the score a 19-14. The Pride would get a couple stops to finish the frame to keep the score at 19-14 heading into the second. 

Each team struggled to find a rhythm offensively in the second quarter. The Beavers' pulled ahead by 12 with 5:52 to play as Kiara Simone Davis hit a floater on the baseline to make the score 28-16. At the 2:19 mark of the second quarter, Sidney Wentland (Elk River, Minn.) converted through contact and finished the three-point play at the free throw line to cut the lead to single digits at 28-19. The bucket by Wentland allowed the graduate student to eclipse the 1,000th point mark for her collegiate career. Wentland would score again in the paint, before Czeremcha cashed in a baseline jumper to bring Springfield within five points at 28-23 with 1:14 remaining. Simon Davis knocked a pair from the line before the half to give Babson a 30-23 lead at the break. 

At the 6:44 mark in the third, Grace Dzindolet (Holliston, Mass.) entered the ball to Hourihan on the left block, who finished through contact and canned the free throw to make a 33-29 score. The Pride went to Hourihan again for another inside bucket to bring Springfield within two of the Beavers. Back-to-back threes from Babson would allow the Beavers to separate itself from Springfield and push the score to 42-33 with 4:15 to go, before Walsh followed up a miss for the hosts to bring the lead back to 46-36. 

In the beginning of the fourth, Vinton was left wide open for the wing three, which cut the deficit to 49-41 for Springfield, however, that would the closest the Pride would get in hopes of building a comeback as Babson kept its distance from Springfield and pull away to hand the Pride just its fourth loss of the season. 

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