Boston, Mass. - December 11, 2022 - The Springfield College women's basketball team scored its most points of the season thus far as it raced past Emmanuel, 82-71, on Sunday in a non-conference clash.
Springfield, which came into the contest ranked 15th in the country in the latest D3hoops.com National poll and 16th in the WBCA Division III Coaches Poll, moved to 8-1 on the year. Emmanuel dipped to 5-4 with the loss.
Sam Hourihan (Bridgewater, Mass.) poured in a career-high 29 points while Rachel Vinton (Rutland, Mass.) stuffed her stat line with 15 points, seven assists, six rebounds, and four steals. Stefany Padula (Franklin, Mass.) canned four three-pointers en route to 12 points and Kayla Madden (Ashland, Mass.) added 11 points, five boards and four helpers.
Springfield scored the first four points of the game and would open up a 14-4 advantage when Vinton finished with her left hand in the lane at the 4:11 mark. The hosts would answer with a 7-0 spurt, and after Hourihan scored down low at 2:34, the Saints would add five unaswered points to conclude its 12-2 run which knotted the game up at 16-all with 1:00 left in the quarter. Emma Glaser (Norfolk, Mass.) would pull up from way downtown in the final seconds of the quarter to give Springfield a 19-16 lead after 10 minutes of play.
The visitors lead would grow to 25-18 when Madden converted inside at 6:45, and after Emmanuel used a 5-2 burst to cut it to 27-23, Hourihan and Padula each buried triples as part of an 8-2 run which allowed Springfield to gain a double-digit lead, 35-25, with just over two minutes left in the half. The Pride maintained a 38-29 cushion at the halftime break as Hourihan led all players with 13 points in the opening 20 minutes of action.
The third quarter moved at a frantic pace as Springfield heated up from beyond the arc in the early going, with Padula drilling two trifectas as part of a 16-5 run, as Vinton's layup at 5:51 gave the Pride a 54-34 lead. However, Emmanuel would not back down and closed out the stanza on a 17-4 surge as it canned five three-pointers to pull within 58-51 entering the fourth.
The Saints used a conventional three-point play inside the opening minute of the fourth to get as close as 58-54, but Vinton would cash in on a pair from the charity stripe to cap off a 12-4 push as the Pride extended its cushion back to 70-58 with 4:58 on the clock. The hosts made one last push, getting within 76-70, but Vinton came up with a huge steal in transition and Springfield knocked down five-of-six from the line to seal their seventh-straight win.
Springfield will play its final game of the semester when it hosts Albertus Magnus on Wednesday evening at 7 pm.
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