WILLIAMSTOWN, MASS. – The Rhode Island College Anchorwomen (3-0, 0-0, Little East Conference) led the whole game by a small margin over the Williams College Ephs (2-1, 0-0, NESCAC) today beating the Ephs 66-65.
With a game so close to the end of the fourth quarter, Ephs’ head coach Pat Manning said, “Our intensity and our competitiveness just made me so proud. To me, this is a win to me, even though it isn’t. It’s going to make us better.” Arianna Gerig finished out the day with another career-high with 35 points and 8 rebounds. The Ephs made 93.8% of their free throws.
Opening up the first quarter, the Anchorwomen scored first with a layup by Angelina Nardolillo. Although, the Ephs quickly answered as Arianna Gerig cut across the key to get away from her defender, open for a pass from Ellie Tounkara at the bottom of the baseline. Gerig put it up for the first Eph points of the game. The Ephs took advantage of cutting through the baseline to score most of their points in the paint in the game just behind the Anchorwomen overall with 30-28.
In the second quarter, the Ephs moved the ball quickly around the arc, trying to find those openings on their cuts again. At 24-19 with the Anchorwomen ahead, Ellie Tounkara drove in from the top of the key, taking the Anchorwomen defense with her. They left Kathleen Smith open on the free throw line, Tounkara passed, and Smith finished the deal with a two from the free throw line. With the Anchorwomen ahead 35-28 later on in the quarter, Cortland McBarron got a pass off of a successful pick and roll, she passed it to an openKate Keenan who drained an open 3 for the Ephs.
The 3rd quarter lit up on rebounds to points for the Ephs where they had a quick three by Kate Keenan off of a rebound from Logan Coster to make the score 46-43 Anchorwomen. Another defensive rebound by Coster led to a fast break opportunity for Gerig to lay it up for a two. The Ephs did take the lead one more time in the fourth 57-55 by a three made by Tounkara off of a defensive steal by Logan Coster.
The fans could feel the adrenaline from the court in the last minute of the game as the Ephs only trailed the Anchorwomen by one point at 64-63. The Ephs just kept fouling in the last 22 seconds of the game which allowed free throw opportunities that the Anchorwomen took advantage of to keep their lead. One last layup by Arianna Gerig narrowed the score the score to 66-65. The Ephs were only one basket behind when a last-minute buzzer shot but Gerig just missed. The Anchorwomen prevailed 66-65.
Coach Manning said, “I am so proud of my team that, Rhode Island College was a Fiinal Four team last year. It’s the experience factor, that they are probably the most experienced team that we will play all year. For our young team to come out of the gate like that and not quit. I’ve told them I’ve never been prouder. … This is only November, I’m just so excited about what we can do moving forward.”
The day ended with the individual awards of the Morin Memorial Tournament announced, with a team MVP award given to Arianna Gerig and the Anchorwoman’s Angelina Nardolillo and the All-tournament MVP was awarded to Anchorwoman Sophia Guerrier.
The Ephs will next face Springfield College at home on Tuesday in Chandler Gym at 5pm.
