Springfield, Mass. - January 7, 2020 - 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. 

Smith College, who was 12-0 entering the contest and receiving votes in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25 poll, is handed their first loss while Springfield elevates to 9-5. The game was played in front of several hundred local elementary school students from  Elias Brookings, William N. DeBerry, and Walsh Elementary Schools in Springfield, Mass. with students from Springfield Conservatory of the Arts providing a pep band. 

Alex Goslin (South Windsor, Conn.) was led the way for the Pride with a game-high 18 points. Lauren Rudolph (Franklin, Mass.) pitched in 10 points and solid energy off the bench while Sam Hourihan (Bridgewater, Mass) hauled in 11 rebounds on the day. As a team, the Pride had 13 steals and assisted on 12 of their 19 made field goals. 

For the Pioneers, Elle Jo Whalen put up 10 points and six rebounds while Katelyn Pikunka and Amelia Clarimont each had nine points in the loss. 

 Smith opened up the game with a 11-2 advantage after a pull up jumpshot from Clairmont at 2:23, forcing a Springfield timeout. With 17 seconds left, Rachel Vinton (Holden, Mass.) would drive in the lane and kick out to Amanda Carr (West Haven, Conn.) for the jump shot to make the score 14-4. Smith would close out the quarter with Pikunka 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 Pikunka putback. At 6:06, 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 (Holliston, Mass.) 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 would pull down a rebound and find a cutting Elle Jo Whalen to increase the lead back to 21-11, but on the next possession Taylor Hall (Tolland, Conn.) 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 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 (Boston, Mass.) 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 (Auburn, Maine) 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.  

The Pride take on Babson College on Saturday, January 11 at 1 pm. 

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