Box Score
BEVERLY, Mass. - The fourth-seeded Smith College basketball team advanced to the 2014 Eastern College Atheltic Conference (ECAC) Division III New England Women's Basketball Championship game with a 64-61 victory over eighth-seeded Brandeis on Saturday evening at Endicott's MacDonald Gymnasium.
The Pioneers (18-11) will have a chance to capture their second ECAC title in three years when they face second-seeded Endicott (22-7) tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.
Jazmine Collins (Springfield, Mass./Sabis) paced the Pioneers with 13 points and four steals and added seven rebounds.
Rosa Drummond (Rye, N.H./Portsmouth) scored 12 as
Sydney Parkmond (Waterbury, Conn./Chase Collegiate) narrowly missed her fourth double-double of the season with 11 points and nine rebounds.
Paulina Solis (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill) chipped in with 10 points and seven boards to go with a team-best five assists.
Kasey Dean led the Judges (14-13) with 15 points as Janelle Rodriguez followed with 13. Nicolina Vitale and Maria Jackson tacked on 10 points apiece. Dean and Vitale each had a team-high seven caroms as Dean also doled out a game-best six helpers.
Parkmond scored the first four Pioneer points of the game to tie it up twice early on. Solis and Dean then traded triples for the third tie just 2:25 into the contest. After Jackson gave the Judges a 9-7 advantage with 16:34 left in the frame, just over a minute went by before the teams traded baskets, including a nifty reverse layup by Solis at 14:36. Thirty four seconds later the junior drained a three-pointer for a 16-13 advantage and later capped her personal 7-2 run with a pair of free throws at 12:51. Parkmond then increased Smith's lead to six following a layup with 12:12 remaining before the break. Brandeis eventually whittled the deficit down to a pair after a layup by Paris Hodges at 8:48. Drummond responded with a three-pointer and coupled with a triple by
Mandy Castro (San Diego, Calif./Poway) the Pioneers pushed their lead out to eight with 7:31 left in the stanza. Collins then made it a nine-point game as she made the front end of a one-and-one. Brandeis would get within one as 2:15 showed on the scoreboard before Smith closed out the half with a jumper by Castro and two layups by Collins for the seven point cushion.
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Brandeis came out of the break with a 5-0 run. Smith eventually opened up a 10-point lead midway throgh the second half and was up by nine with just over seven minutes to play. The Judges then embarked on an 8-2 outburst following a layup by Rodriguez at 3:27. Vitale brought the game within one courtesy of a basket with 1:26 remaining. After a missed Smith layup and a turnover by each team, Collins sank a pair of free throws with 4.8 seconds left. The Judges last second three-point bid to send the game into overtime fell short.
