GAME INFORMATION: Smith 77 MIT 70
RECORDS: Smith (18-8) MIT (20-5)
LOCATION: Cambridge, Mass.
SMITH STARTERS: Guest-Pritchett (F), Hanley (G), McClellan (F), Castro (G), Bondi (G)
MIT STARTERS: Ngan (G), Yuan (G), Ilutzi (G), V'Dovec (F), Holinski (F)
The fifth-seeded Smith College basketball team advanced to the semifinals of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament with their 77-70 win over fourth-seeded MIT Wednesday evening in quarterfinal action.
With the victory, Smith continues on to the NEWMAC semifinals where they will play at the No. 1 seed Babson College Beavers at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. The other semifinal will feature seventh-seeded Clark against the No. 2 WPI Engineers. The two winners will meet for the title Sunday at 12:00 p.m. with the champions receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
This is Smith's first NEWMAC Tournament win since the 2013-14 season when the Pioneers beat Babson for a berth in the NEWMAC Championship game.
SMITH HIGHLIGHTS
- Sophomore forward Kennedy Guest-Pritchett (Fairburn, Ga./The Lawrenceville School) recorded her 13th double-double of the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
- Katy McClellan (Palmyra, Pa./Palmyra Area), who made her first career start, finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds and two assists.
- Junior guard Meghan Holland (Atherton, Calif./Sacred Heart Prepatory) and sophomore guard Lauren Bondi (Burnaby, BC, Can./Notre Dame Secondary) each totaled 11 points, four assists.
- Junior guard Paige Marquez (San Francisco, Calif./St. Ignatius College Prepatory) shot 5-of-7 from the field for 12 points.
MIT HIGHLIGHTS
- Ilutzi finished with 13 points and four assists while sophomore Kristen Ngan chipped in nine points and two steals.
- Freshman Cindy Si produced eight points and two steals as sophomore Kara Holinski dished out four assists.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
MIT inched out to a 10-7 lead with 3:12 left in the opening quarter. Two free throws by Guest-Pritchett on Smith's next possession sparked a 12-4 run to end the quarter.
The Pioneers carried the momentum into the second stanza as their advantage grew to 45-26 courtesy of Lauren Bondi (Burnaby, BC, Can./Notre Dame Secondary)'s three-pointer at the buzzer.
The third quarter was a balanced shooting performance that saw the Engineers narrow the gap to 58-45 on V'Dovec's jumper at the end of the frame.
MIT continued to chip away at the deficit in the fourth quarter, eventually coming within five (73-68) after two free throws by senior Liana Ilutzi with 29 seconds left. The visitors turned the ball over on their ensuing possession but sophomore Dolly Yuan's three-pointer was off the mark. After securing the rebound, Bondi was fouled and then she drained both shots from the charity stripe with 18 ticks remaining. The Engineers replied with an Ilutzi layup but Jade Chihara (Lahaina, Hawaii/Lahainaluna) secured the victory for Smith courtesy of two free throws with 10 seconds to play.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Smith shot 50 percent from the floor (28-56) and three-point range (8-16) while MIT finished with a 47.4 field-goal percentage and only hit three shots from behind the arc. Both squads generated 34 points in the paint as the Engineers held a 13-11 edge in points off turnovers. The Pioneers out-rebounded the hosts, 40-22, helping them record a 20-7 advantage in second-chance points.
(Portions of this recap courtesy to MIT Athletics)
