NEED TO KNOW:
Score: Smith 50, Springfield 54
Records: Pioneers 12-1, Pride 9-5

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - In a rematch of last season's New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament Semifinal, the Springfield College women's basketball program erased a 15-point deficit to beat Smith College, 54-50, on Tuesday afternoon in Blake Arena. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Junior forward Elle Jo Whalen (Woodinville, Wash./Woodinville High School) led the way with 10 points, six rebounds and two steals
• Sophomore Katelyn Pickunka (Westhampton, Mass./Hampshire) and first-year Amelia Clairmont (Laconia, N.H./New Hampton School) each finished with nine points
• Sophomore Dashelle Gleissner (Los Angeles, Calif./Serra) led the team with five assists

HOW IT HAPPENED

Smith opened up the game with a 11-2 advantage after a pull up jumpshot from first-year Amelia Clairmont (Laconia, N.H./New Hampton School) at 2:23, forcing a Springfield timeout. With 17 seconds left, Rachel Vinton would drive in the lane and kick out to Amanda Carr for the jump shot to make the score 14-4. Smith would close out the quarter with Pickunka going 1-of-2 from the free throw line to make the score 15-4. 

At the 8:07 mark in the second quarter, the Pioneers would reach their biggest lead of the half at 19-4 with a Pickunka putback. At 6:06, Alex Goslin would haul in an offensive rebound and finish through traffic to make a the score 19-6. The layup would spark a 7-0 run by the Pride, which was capped off, at 2:58, by Grace Dzindolet forcing a turnover and threading a pass to Goslin in transition for the layup to cut the deficit to 19-11. With 29 seconds, Ally Yamada (Seal Beach, Calif./Fairmont Prep Academy) would pull down a rebound and find a cutting Whalen to increase the lead back to 21-11, but on the next possession Taylor Hall would draw contact and bury a pair from the line to trim the halftime deficit to 21-13. The Pride forced eight turnovers in the first half. 

At 6:58, Clairmont got to the rim and scored the give Smith a 28-17 advantage, but on the next possession, Goslin would step back behind a Sam Hourihan screen and drill a jumper to make the deficit 28-19. From there, the Pride would chip away at the Pioneers lead courtesy of back-to-back triples from Stephanie Lyons with one them coming with 4:34 remaining in the quarter to slim the margin to 29-27, however, the Pioneers would respond with a 9-0 run of their to jump back up 38-27. With 34 ticks remaining, Hourihan collected a Vinton miss and put it right back up to trim the deficit to 39-31, heading into the final period. The Pride shot a tremendous 61.5% on 8-of-13 from the field in the third quarter.

At 7:01 in the fourth, Lyons would swing the ball to Rudolph for the wing three to bring the Pride within one point at 41-40, but Smith would go back up 44-41 as Ruffner nailed a corner three with 5:50 remaining.  At 4:44, Emily Jacques intercepted a pass and threw it ahead as Goslin finished the transition layup plus the foul, which gave the Pride their first lead of the game at 47-46, however Smith would tie the game at 50 a piece as Gleissner would cash in another mid range jumper at 3:55. From there, the Pride would limit the Pioneers to just one shot possessions and receive free throws from Jacques with 11 seconds remaining to take a 53-50 lead. With just five seconds remaining, Smith would inbound the ball looking to send the game to overtime, but Lyons would come swooping in and intercept the pass. The ball would find Jacques as she would get fouled and cap off the comeback 54-50 victory with a free throw.  

GAME NOTES

• The Pioneers drop to 14-34 all-time against the Pride
• Both teams pulled down 36 boards
• Smith shot 40% (20-of-50) from the field compared to 33.3% (19-of-57) for Springfield
• Pickunka was held to single digits for just the second time this season 

UP NEXT
Smith hosts Dean College on Thursday at 7:00 p.m.

Portions of this recap courtesy of Springfield Athletics

About Smith Athletics: Smith College is a NCAA Division III member of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference that sponsors 11 intercollegiate sports. For more information log on to smithpioneers.com and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.