NORTHAMPTON, Mass.--After a 24 hour delay to dig out from Winter Storm Nemo, the final home game of the regular season commences for the Smith College basketball team (20-2, 14-1 NEWMAC) when the Pioneers host No. 22 Babson College (20-2, 15-0 NEWMAC) on Sunday afternoon. Seniors
Devon Quattrocchi (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster),
Amanda Zakoske (Jacksonville, Fla./The Bolles School), and
Brittany Purington (Weare, N.H./John Stark) will be recognized before the contest.
Last Meeting: The Beavers took a closer-than-it-looks 59-50 win over Smith on January 12. Smith forced 35 turnovers, but struggled from the field, shooting 17-for-66 (25.8%) and were outrebounded 56-28. Despite the low scoring, Smith was within six before Babson went 5-for-6 from the foul line to seal the victory.
Last Smith Win: Smith upset the Beavers
65-58 on January 24, 2009. Anna Veltri scored 26 points, connecting on 7-of-14 shots, including 4-of-6 from behind the arc as Smith improved to 8-8.
Smith Overview: Smith won their eighth straight game with a 71-56 victory over Clark University on Wednesday.
Rosa Drummond (Rye, N.H./Portsmouth) scored eight points, becoming the 10th player in school history to score 1,000 points on a free throw with 4:27 remaining.
Paulina Solis (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill) led Smith with 17 points. Later that night, Smith moved into seventh place in the NCAA New England Regional Rankings.
Babson Overivew: The Beavers, ranked fifth in the NCAA Regional rankings, have won 80 straight NEWMAC contests, with the most recent being a 54-39 win over MIT on Wednesday night. The game was tied at halftime, but Babson blistered the nets to the tune of 46.7% shooting in the second half to pull away.
Smith Player to Watch: The three seniors - Quattrocchi, Zakoske, and Purington - will all need to have big games if Smith is to end Babson's NEWMAC winning streak of four years.
Babson Player to Watch: Senior center Sarah Collins leads the league in both scoring (17.8 ppg) and rebounding (13.7), and has notched 18 double-doubles, the most among all NCAA Division III players.
Playoff Permutations: If Smith should win their final three games (today's contest and road games at WPI and Wellesley next week), the Pioneers will host the 2013 NEWMAC Women's Basketball Championship on February 23-24. Babson victories in each of their next three contests (at Smith, at Clark, and at Springfield) will do the same.
