GAME INFORMATION: Babson 83 Smith 59
RECORDS: Babson (21-5) Smith (18-9)
LOCATION: Babson Park, Mass.
SMITH STARTERS: Guest-Pritchett (F), McClellan (F), Hanley (G), Castro (G), Bondi (G)
BABSON STARTERS: Russell (F), LeGacy (F), Narlee (F), Pickering (G), Lane (G)

The fifth seed Smith College basketball team fell to the top seed and host Babson College, 83-59, in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference Semifinal Saturday afternoon. Babson advances to the title game for the eighth time in nine years while the Pioneers see their season come to an end.

SMITH HIGHLIGHTS

• Junior guard Paige Marquez (San Francisco, Calif./St. Ignatius College Prepatory) came off the bench to score 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting for the Pioneers.
• Sophomore guard Erin Hanley (San Francisco, Calif./St. Ignatius College Prepatory) added 10 points and five rebounds.
• Sophomore guard Lauren Bondi (Burnaby, BC, Can./Notre Dame Secondary) tied for game-high honors with four helpers to go along with eight points
• Junior forward Amanda Barriscale (Mill Valley, Calif./Tamalpais) was a spark off the bench finishing with seven points and seven rebounds.

BABSON HIGHLIGHTS

• Senior guard Giovanna Pickering, who scored a career-high 35 points, was 14-of-24 from the floor and knocked down a career-best four three-pointers to go along with eight rebounds and three assists.
• Senior Taylor Russell added 13 points and four steals.
• Jennifer Narlee led all players with 16 rebounds.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Green and White connected on six of its first nine shots to build a 13-6 lead on a three-pointer by sophomore Elizabeth Lane four minutes into the first quarter. Classmate Katherine Tamulionis scored in transition to make it 18-6 two minutes later and then buried a triple to extend the margin to 27-13 with 7:10 left in the second quarter. Six consecutive points by Pickering, who scored 12 in the stanza, made it 39-17 at the 3:06 mark before Smith closed its deficit to 41-24 at the break with a late 7-2 burst. 
 
The Pioneers scored the first eight points of the second half, including four by Hanley, to get as close as 41-32 before Babson responded with 17-2 run. Pickering contributed nine points and Russell had eight during the spurt, which gave the Green and White a 58-34 edge with 2:20 to go in the third.
 
Smith pulled within 16 on a three-pointer by Bondi with 8:10 to go in the fourth quarter, but Pickering keyed another 13-2 run that pushed the Babson lead to 77-50 with under five minutes remaining. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Smith shot 34.3 percent overall, but were just 6-of-27 (22.2) percent from three-point range. The Beavers shot 46.5 percent for the game and finished with a 51-36 advantage on the glass. 
 
(Portions of this recap courtesy to Babson Athletics)