Lexington, Ky. - March 11, 2022 - The Springfield College women's basketball program closes its historical season on the national stage with a 58-49 loss to No. 5/6 Trine in the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen at Transylvania University on Friday night.
Springfield, who was ranked No. 24 in the final Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) poll, finishes with a 24-5 record overall. The Pride's appearance in the Sweet Sixteen marks the first time the program reached the second weekend since 2005.
Sam Hourihan (Bridgewater, Mass.) led Springfield with 20 points and eight rebounds. Rachel Vinton (Rutland, Mass.) put forth a gritty effort with 12 points, nine rebounds, three assists, and three steals. Sidney Wentland (Elk River, Minn.) chipped in nine points, eight caroms, and three assists. As a team, Springfield outrebounded Trine in the contest, 43-40, and limited the Thunder to its third lowest output of the entire season.
Tara Bieniewicz led all scorers with 24 points and was 8-of-11 from beyond the arc. The Thunder shot 12-of-23 from beyond the arc for 52.2%.
At the first media timeout, the Thunder pulled out to a 14-4 lead with 4:15 left on the clock as Bieniewicz canned three triples to give Trine the early advantage. After Hourihan scored in the paint to make it 17-7, Hourihan made a pair of plays on the next defensive possession, rejecting two layups to regain possession. With 41 seconds remaining, Hourihan nailed a straight-away three to bring Springfield to within 17-10 of Trine.
Hourihan knocked in another jumper off the find from Riley Robinson (Adams, Mass.) to make the score 17-12 with 9:28 left in the second. From there, Springfield and Trine would both settle in defensively as each team would struggle to find a bucket, before a three-pointer from Alysa Argyle would give Trine the 22-12 boost. Springfield would bring it to single digits as Vinton cashed 1-of-2 from the line and made the deficit 24-15 with three minutes remaining. Trine went on a 11-4 run that was carried by threes from Bieniewicz and Argyle to go to break with a 35-19 lead.
Trine ballooned its lead to as much as 17 in the third as Sam Underhill scored in the post to make the Thunder lead 46-29 with 3:35 to play, however, Springfield responded with a 7-2 burst to finish the quarter highlighted by a Lyons' layup as time expired in the third to make it a 48-36 game with just one frame left.
The Pride continued to chip away at the Trine lead by cutting it to 50-41 as Vinton attacked the basket and helped Springfield cut the deficit to single digits with a free throw at 7:32. At 5:36, Bieniewicz sunk a three in transition to push it back to 53-41, although Hourihan put together a 8-0 scoring burst of her own to make it a four-point game at 53-49 with 53 seconds to go. Another three and free throws down the stretch allowed Trine to stave off the Springfield comeback.
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