Worcester, Mass. - February 22, 2023 - The Springfield College women's basketball team's rallied for a 61-56 victory over WPI in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship Tournament Quarterfinals on Wednesday night in Harrington Auditorium. 

 Springfield, which was seeded fifth in the tournament, improved to 18-8, while fourth seeded WPI dropped to 17-7.

 Angela Czeremcha (West Springfield, Mass.) totaled 16 points and eight boards in the win, while Sam Hourihan (Bridgewater, Mass.) produced 15 points and seven caroms.  Rachel Vinton (Rutland, Mass.) added 12 points for the Pride.

WPI would jump out to a 6-0 lead under 90 seconds into the contest on a triple by Alice Kelly and would stretch its lead to 17-9 with under three minutes remaining in the quarter on a three-point play by McKenna Finken.  The Pride would use a 5-0 burst, capped off by a pair of freebies from Czeremcha, to pull within 17-14, only to have the Engineers get a trifecta in the waning seconds by Melanie Presseau to build a 20-14 first-quarter advantage. 

Another shot from range, this time from Alex Scariati at 7:37, allowed WPI's lead to grow to 27-19, but Springfield would clamp down on defense and close out the half on an 11-3 surge to go into the break knotted up at 30-30.  Hourihan would account for six points in the run, including an acrobatic layin with 35 ticks on the clock to tie the game up for the first time all night. 

In the third, WPI would push its lead to back to 39-32 at the 6:51 mark after a Kelly inside bucket.  However, over the next three minutes, Springfield would produce an 8-0 run, as Vinton cashed in on a pair from the stripe to give Springfield its first lead of the game at 40-39 with 3:50 on the clock.  Kelly would drill another late trifecta to give the Engineers a 45-43 lead entering the fourth.

The Pride scored the first four points of the fourth, with Amanda Leary (Westbury, N.Y.) getting free for a layup at 8:22 to force WPI into a timeout trailing 47-45. After WPI responded with the next four points to take their last lead of the game, the Pride broke open the game with a 11-0 surge, holding WPI off the scoreboard for over six minutes, as its lead ballooned to 58-49.  Springfield would outscore the hosts by an 18-11 margin in the fourth quarter as it advanced back to the conference semifinals, which will take place on Friday at nationally-ranked Smith. 

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