Box Score NORTHAMPTON - The No. 4 Smith College basketball team won its third straight New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship with a 67-52 victory over Babson College on Sunday at Ainsworth Gymnasium. With their 20th straight win, the No. 4 Pioneers (26-1) earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament which will begin next Friday. 

No. 11 Babson drops to 23-5 and will wait for an at-large bid when the pairings are announced Monday. 

Smith's Katelyn Pickunka (Westhampton, Mass./Hampshire) was named the Tournament's Most Outstanding Player after finishing with 15 points, seven rebounds, four steals and three assists. 

How it Happened

• Amelia Clairmont (Laconia, N.H./New Hampton School) scored a layup off the tip and Pickunka drained a jumper as Smith went ahead early, 4-0. Smith's largest lead came on a Pickunka layup to make it 14-8 before Katelyn Mollica's three-pointer gave the visitors their first lead at 15-14 with under a minute to go
• The Pioneers outscored Babson 11-2 in the opening minutes to build a 30-20 lead on a Yamada three-pointer with 5:26 left in the half. The Beavers began to chip away and used a 13-4 run over the final minutes to get within one at the half, 36-35
• Babson took a 43-41 lead in the third thanks to a pair of free throws by Kelly Walsh but Smith responded with an 11-0 run courtesy of a balanced scoring attack. The two teams exchanged free throws in the final minutes as Smith took a 53-46 edge into the final quarter
• Babson was able to cut the lead to three, 53-50, on Samantha Smith's bucket but back-to-back layups by Morrison and a three-pointer from Yamada jump started a 14-2 run from Smith to close out the game 

By the Numbers

• Morgan Morrison (Detroit, Mi/Detroit Country Day) added 14 points and 10 rebounds for her 12th double-double of the year
• Ally Yamada (Seal Beach, Calif./Fairmont Prep Academy) poured in 16 points off the bench on 5-of-7 shooting, while Jessie Ruffner (Rocklin, Calif./Rocklin) and Amelia Clairmont (Laconia, N.H./New Hampton School) each finished with nine points
• Kelly Walsh scored a season-high 21 points and added six rebounds and four steals to lead the Beavers
• Smith shot 48.1% (25-of-52) from the floor, 36.4% (4-of-11) from three-point range and 72.2% (13-of-18) from the free throw line
• Babson shot 40.4% (21-of-52) from the field, 30% (3-of-10) from long distance and 77.8% (7-of-9) from the free throw line
• The Pioneers will be making the program's fifth appearance in the NCAA Tournament

Quotes
Katelyn Pickunka (Westhampton, Mass./Hampshire) on winning the NEWMAC Championship - "I don't think all of the emotions have fully sunk in but this is an amazing accomplishment, and it's a rare one at that," Pickunka said. "This is my last run at it. I decided to stay and play a fifth year and potentially change what I was doing with my life, so this was a huge commitment for me… coming back, winning NEWMACs – the [MVP] award was definitely a cherry on top but to do it with all my teammates and coaching staff, I couldn't ask for anything better."

Coach Lynn Hersey on Ally Yamada (Seal Beach, Calif./Fairmont Prep Academy) - "She's critical. She is one of the purest shooters I've ever seen. Her ability to impact the game – it's quick and it's precise and it's powerful," Smith head coach Lynn Hersey said of Yamada. "She's just so skilled at stretching the court for us. Her energy on defense, execution and shooting on offense, it's a spark coming off the bench and something different coaches have to game plan for as a as a sixth person coming in." 

Coach Lynn Hersey on halftime adjustments - "I think there were a couple of defensive adjustments we wanted to make. [Kelly] Walsh, one of their guards, was getting a lot of space and separation for some of her looks. We wanted to keep focusing on eliminating (offensive) boards and containing as much as we could their interior game. On offense, we were going to try to really pound it in the high-low game," Hersey said. "The credit goes to the team. They came out, really followed the game plan and we executed that and we got a lot of really good looks in the high-low." 

Up Next
The 2023 NCAA Tournament field will be announced on Monday at 2:30 p.m. on NCAA.com

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.