Springfield, Mass. - February 8, 2023 - The Springfield College women's basketball team was defeated by nationally-ranked Smith, 74-56, in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) clash on Wednesday night.

Smith, which was ranked fifth in the country in the latest D3hoops.com Nationall Poll, is now 21-1, 7-0 against conference opponents.  Springfield, which was once again receiving votes in the D3hoops.com National Poll this week, dropped to 14-8, 4-3.

Angela Czeremcha (West Springfield, Mass.) netted 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting to go along with five boards, while Rachel Vinton (Rutland, Mass.) grabbed a team-best nine rebounds and added 10 points of her own.  Sam Hourihan (Bridgewater, Mass.) chipped in 10 points for a Springfield team that finished the game shooting 22-for-66. 

Smith was led by the duo of Morgan Morrison and Katelyn Pickunka, who combined for 38 points and 18 rebounds while shooting 18-for-23 from the floor.  

After a Vinton floater evened the game up at 4-4 just under three minutes into the game, Smith would pour on a 9-0 spurt to open up a 13-4 edge following a Pickunka jumper at 3:29.  Amelia Clairmont would later drill a trifecta with 1:05 left to push the advantage to 18-8 and the visitors would close out the first 10 minutes of action with a 20-12 lead.

Back-to-back inside finishes by Czeremcha pulled the hosts within 22-16 at the 8:04 mark and Hourihan would can a triple of her own with 6:00 on the clock to make it a 26-22 contest.  However, the Pioneers would manufacture an 11-3 push to have its lead balloon to 37-25 with under a minute to play.  Springfield would get a pair of late scores, including a fast-break bucket by Jaélen Daubon(Hyde Park, N.Y.) at the horn to trim Smith's halftime lead to 37-29. 

The Pride would get as close as six points when Stefany Padula (Franklin, Mass.) cashed in on a pair from the free throw line at 7:55 in the third.  From there, the Pride would struggled to score as Smith used a 9-2 run, capped off by a pull up jumper in the paint by Pickunka at 3:12, to extend the lead to 50-37. Springfield would make it a 52-43 deficit after a late Vinton bucket in the third, only to have the Pioneeers produce another 9-2 scoring burst in the first two-plus minutes of the fourth to earn a commanding 61-45 lead.  The visitors would shoot 9-of-12 from the field in the fourth and outscore Springfield by a 22-13 margin to pull away for the 74-56 win.  

Springfield continues conference game at home on Saturday when it hosts Emerson at 3 pm. 

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