Box Score NORTHAMPTON, Mass. –
Rosa Drummond (Rye, N.H./Portsmouth) tied Phoebe Jacob '93 for the top spot on the career scoring leaderboard with 1,441 points - in terms of games played in a Smith College basketball uniform - as the top-seeded Pioneers were upended by sixth-seeded Springfield, 51-43, in the title game of the 2014 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Women's Basketball Championship on Saturday inside Ainsworth Gym.
Smith (16-11) now awaits a potential Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III New England berth. The Pioneers claimed the 2012 title.
Drummond recorded her eighth double-double of the season with a historic 14 points to go with 11 rebounds.
Paulina Solis (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill) added nine points and a game-best three swipes as
Sydney Parkmond (Waterbury, Conn./Chase Collegiate) and
Lauren Weston (Florence, Mass./Northampton) scored seven apiece.
Over the course of the tournament, Jaimie Bickelhaupt, the Tournament's Most Outstanding Player, led all scorers with 15.7 points and seven defensive rebounds per game. Emily Gins, who averaged 10 caroms per game for the tournament, finished with 14 on the day to go along with 13 points, including 11 from the charity stripe. Ava Adamopoulos chipped in with 10 points while Danielle Racette doled out a game-best four assists and led the Pride with two steals.
Solis broke the ice as she sank the back end of a pair of free throws nearly two minutes into the game. Springfield then scored back-to-back buckets to take the early 4-1 lead four minutes in. Drummond evened the game with her first triple at the 13:36 mark. Weston then embarked on a personal 5-2 run to push the Pioneers lead to three twice before Springfield's Heather Lewis canned a pair of free throws to take the 10-9 lead midway through the half. After Parkmond drained a free throw to make it even at 10-all, Lexi Windwer began a Springfield 10-2 run with a three-pointer to close out the frame with a 20-12 advantage.
Smith slowly whittled away at the deficit and took its first lead, since midway through the first half, at the 12:07 mark following a tip-in by Solis to make it 25-24. The squads then traded buckets, and the lead, until Gins put the guests ahead by three (30-27) with 10:07 to go. Smith kept the game within four until three consecutive layups by Adamopoulos pushed the Pride's lead to 10 (41-31) with under five minutes to play. Drummond's record-tying triple made it a six-point game with 28 ticks remaining. Ten seconds later,
Jade Chihara (Laihana, Hawaii/Laihanaluna) cut the deficit to four with a layup before Gins sealed the win with four free throws in the final 14 seconds.
