NORTHAMPTON, Mass.--The start of a critical week for the Smith College basketball team (9-3, 4-2 NEWMAC) begins with a visit from Clark University (10-3, 6-0 NEWMAC) on Wednesday night for a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference game at 7 p.m.

Last Meeting:  Smith earned a memorable 72-61 win over the Cougars in the quarterfinals of the NEWMAC tournament on February 23, 2011.  Lizzy BelBruno (Hanover, N.H./Hanover) and Rosa Drummond (Rye, N.H./Portsmouth) each scored 14 points as the Pioneers finished the first half on an 18-9 run.

Smith Overview: Smith will be looking to get back on the right track after suffering their first loss to Wellesley in five years.  A 62-61 defeat to the Blue keeps Smith in second place in the league, with tonight's opponent, Clark, and Babson College both tied with 6-0 league records.  Incidentally, the Pioneers host Babson, ranked No. 22 in the latest d3hoops.com poll on Saturday, January 14. 

Clark Overview: The Cougars come into tonight's matchup having won 10 of their last 11 games, including a dominating 76-36 win over MIT on Saturday.  Clark limited the Engineers to 16.2 percent shooting (11-68), while shooting 63.8 percent themselves.  Emily Reilly and Ashleigh Condon scored 19 points apiece for Clark.

Smith Player to Watch:  Maddie Page (Arvada, Colo./Jefferson Acad.) came off the bench to score 13 points and hand out five assists in the loss to Wellesley. 

Clark Player to Watch:  Condon's importance to the Cougars cannot be underestimated - she missed the first two games of the season, and Clark lost both.  The sophomore averages a team leading 13.1 points per game.

Did you know?  Clark already has more wins this year (10) than all of last year (nine).