Regular Season
December 3, 2016: Babson 74 Smith 65
Sophomore guard
Erin Hanley (San Francisco, Calif./St. Ignatius College Prepatory) finished with 13 points, five rebounds and two steals in the loss for the Pioneers.
January 28, 2017: Babson 76 Smith 72
Junior forward
Samantha Alakai (Pukalani, Hawaii/Punahou School) scored 12 of her 26 points in the final 1:03 including three from behind-the-arc while sophomore
Kennedy Guest-Pritchett (Fairburn, Ga./The Lawrenceville School) added 16 points and pulled down a game-high 19 rebounds in a loss to the Beavers.
The Series
Babson leads the all-time series 38-10. These two teams have met five times in the postseason where the Pioneers are 1-4 against the Beavers.
NEW 8 Tournament Quarterfinal - Feb. 21, 1991 - Smith 66 Babson 55
NEWMAC Semifinal - Feb. 26, 1999 - Smith 52 Babson 61
NEWMAC Final - Feb. 27, 2011 - Smith 49 Babson 74
NEWMAC Final - Feb. 26, 2012 - Smith 51 Babson 74
NEWMAC Semifinal - March 1, 2014 - Smith 64 Babson 58
The Beavers
The top-seeded Beavers (20-5), who are making their ninth straight conference tournament semifinal appearance, defeated Springfield, 59-35, to capture their second consecutive NEWMAC regular season title last Saturday. Senior Giovanna Pickering scored a game-high 17 points and classmate Jennifer Narlee led all player with 14 rebounds for Babson, which outscored the Pride 30-11 in the second half. Pickering (18.4 pts, 5.8 reb, 4.0 ast, 2.4 steals) leads the league in scoring, senior Taylor Russell (12.1 pts, 6.2 reb) is shooting 35 percent from three-point range and Narlee (6.0 pts, 10.8 reb, 2.6 steals) leads the NEWMAC in rebounding. The Green and White ranks third in Division III in rebound margin (13.2) and his limiting foes to 34.2 percent shooting. The Beavers, who are sixth in the most recent NCAA regional rankings, have captured six of the last eight NEWMAC Tournament championships and have won 14 of their last 15 conference playoff games at home.
The Pioneers
Smith (18-8) looks to return to the NEWMAC Championship game for the first time since the 2013-14 season. The Pioneers earned a berth in the semifinals after their 77-70 win over MIT Wednesday evening. In that game,
five players scored in double-figures led by Katy McClellan (Palmyra, Pa./Palmyra Area)'s first career double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds while sophomore forward Kennedy Guest-Pritchett (Fairburn, Ga./The Lawrenceville School) recorded her league leading 13th double-double of season with 10 points, 11 boards. Guest Pritchett, who was named NEWMAC Athlete of the Week and to the NEWBA Honor Roll Monday, ranks in the top-5 of the NEWMAC in points per game (15.6), rebounds per game (10.4) and field goal percentage (51.9%). Sophomore guard
Erin Hanley (San Francisco, Calif./St. Ignatius College Prepatory) is scoring 10.1 points per game and is fifth in the conference in field goal percentage (50.6%) while sophomore guard
Sydney Koh (Seattle, Wash. /Lakeside) and senior guard
Mandy Castro (San Diego, Calif./Poway) rank in the top-5 of the NEWMAC in 3-PT percentage. Junior guard
Meghan Holland (Atherton, Calif./Sacred Heart Prepatory) is tied for first in assist to turnover ratio (2.1). The Pioneers have the league's second-highest scoring offense, averaging 68.8 points per game. After reaching the conference final in 2011, 2012 and 2014, Smith is seeking its first NEWMAC Tournament championship.
2017 NEWMAC Women's Basketball Championship
Quarterfinals: Wednesday, February 22 at higher seed
#5 Smith 77 at #4 MIT 70
#6 Coast Guard 38 at #3 WPI 68
#7 Clark 65 at #2 Springfield 54
Semifinals: Saturday, February 25 at Babson
#5 Smith vs. #1 Babson - 12 p.m.
#3 WPI vs. #7 Clark - 2:30 p.m.
Championship: Sunday, February 26 at Babson
Semifinal Winners - 12 p.m.
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