Northampton, Mass. - December 3, 2014 - The Springfield College Women's Basketball program opened up it's New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) schedule with a convincing 57-40 victory over Smith College on Wednesday evening in a rematch of last season's conference championship bout.

With the win, the Pride begin it's title defense by picking up its first victory of the season and improving to 1-3 overall and 1-0 in conference play, while the Pioneers fall to 1-5 overall and 0-1 in the NEWMAC. Springfield finished the game shooting 35.5 percent from the field (22-for-62), while Smith mustered a 29.4 shooting percentage, going 15-for-51 from the field in the contest.

Leading the way offensively for the Pride for the second-straight game was junior guard Heather Lewis (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.), who netted a game-high 18 points in the victory. The 18-point mark ranks second in the junior's career, as Lewis netted 22 in last season's opener against Staten Island.

Senior forward Jaimie Bickelhaupt (Brookfield, Conn.) registered her third double-double in four games this season, posting 13 points and as many rebounds, while junior forward Emily Gins (Fort Myers, Fla.) posted nine points and 11 rebounds of her own.

The Pride jumped out to an early 8-3 advantage over the Pioneers after a made jumper from Bickelhaupt, before senior guard Riley Fake (Brockport, N.Y.) knocked down a jumper of her own to give the Pride an early 10-5 edge. After Smith cut its deficit to just one after a lay-up from Paige Marquez (San Francisco, Calif.), the Pride re-gained its five-point cushion after back-to-back jumpers from Gins and Dina Pitsas (Milford, N.H.) to give the Pride a 14-9 lead with 7:00 remaining in the opening half.

The five-point burst from the Pride sparked what ended up to be a 19-2 run to end the opening half, capped off by three-pointer from senior guard Andrea Moschetta (Harrison, N.Y.) to give the Pride a lofty 29-11 advantage heading into the break.

Picking up right where it left off to end the half, the Pride extended its lead to 26 points just 4:41 into the second frame courtesy of back-to-back triples from Lewis. The 26-point margin was the Pride's largest of the game.

Baskets continued to fall for the Pride, as Pitsas contributed five of her seven points off the bench in the second half. As a team, the Pride were 4-for-10 from behind-the-arc in the second half as well, aiding in the victory.

Springfield was able to retain its lead for the remainder of the contest, picking up its first win of the season. The Pride will be back in action this Saturday, December 6 when it will return home to host Wheaton College in another NEWMAC contest. The game is slated for 2 p.m.