Springfield, Mass. - November 8, 2022 - The Springfield College women's basketball program kicked off its 2022-23 season with a 56-48 win over Western New England on Tuesday night in Blake Arena.

The Pride, who are ranked No. 16 in the D3hoops.com Preseason Poll and No. 20 in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Preseason Top 25 Poll, grabbed its first win of the season. Western New England drops to 0-1. The Pride held a slight advantage on the glass in the contest with 34 rebounds, and assisted on 11 of their 19 baskets. Springfield limited the Golden Bears to 28.8% shooting from the floor. 

 Sam Hourihan (Bridgewater, Mass.) led all scorers with 18 points added seven rebounds and three blocks. Jaélen Daubon (Hyde Park, N.Y.) contributed a career-high 14 points in the win with nine coming in the second half. Angela Czeremcha (West Springfield, Mass.) went 5-of-9 from the floor for 10 points to go along with five rebounds. Stefany Padula (Franklin, Mass.) made great contributions off the bench in 18 minutes of action. 

Abby Garaban was the Golden Bears leading scorer with 13 points, while Lindsey Carey added 11 points, six rebounds, and four blocks.  

Springfield earned a 10-0 lead as Czeremcha received a pass from Vinton finished through contact with 6:01 remaining in the first quarter of play. Western New England began to claw back into the game with a 9-0 run to close the first quarter sparked by a Lindsay Carr triple at 5:45 left in the frame, which allowed the Golden Bears bring the game to a one-point margin after the first quarter of play. 

The Golden Bears took its first lead of the game at 6:08 in the second quarter after Emma Novajasky canned a three to make it 14-12 in favor of the visitors. The Pride retook the lead with three minutes remaining in the half after Daubon cashed in Springfield's first three of the game to make it a 17-14 lead for the hosts. With 1:15 to go, Hourihan drilled a three to put the Pride 21-14, which proved to be its largest lead of the game since the 6:01 mark in the first quarter. A late three from Garaban brought it back to a four-point spread, but Padula drew contact in the final seconds of the half and converted a pair of free throws to allow Springfield to go to break with a 23-17 advantage. 

Midway through the third, the Pride earned a 28-22 lead as Czeremcha made another inside finish following an offensive rebound from Riley Robinson (Adams, Mass.) to help Springfield keep a six-point cushion with 5:57 to go. The Golden Bears continued to clip into the lead as the visitors' cut it as close to four on a few occasions in the stanza, but the Pride were able to advance its lead to 34-26 after back-to-back buckets from Hourihan and Rachel Vinton (Rutland, Mass.) to close the quarter. 

The Pride earned its largest lead of the game at 4:55 in the fourth quarter as Daubon finished a turnaround layup in the paint to put the Pride ahead 46-34. Western New England would not go away quietly as the Golden Bears poured on a 14-5 to close the margin to jus three after pair of free throws from Garaban to make 51-48 with 37 seconds remaining. Despite the late push, Springfield combined to go 5-for-6 from the line in final 30 seconds to close the game and take the first win of the season.

Springfield will take on No. 9 Amherst College on Friday night at 7 pm.

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