Springfield, Mass. – November 26, 2024 – The Springfield College women's basketball team had five players score in double figures as it toppled Williams, 72-71, in a thrilling non-conference game in Blake Arena on Tuesday night.
 
Springfield boosted its record to 4-3 on the year, while Williams lost for the first time this year to dip to 3-1.
 
Kassidy Carrano (West Haven, Conn.) was tremendous in the victory, scoring a career-high 18 points to go along with four assists.  Angie Czeremcha (West Springfield, Mass.) tallied 14 points, and Carrie Hess (Shrewsbury, Mass.) stuffed her stat sheet with 12 points, five assists, four rebounds, and four blocks. Claire Finney (Haverhill, Mass.) added 12 points and Amanda Leary (Westbury, N.Y.) posted 11 points, five rebounds, and five assists in a game where Springfield shot 53% from the floor and owned a 32-20 scoring advantage in the paint.

Williams was led by Arianna Gerig, who registered 20 points, 10 boards, and five assists, and Micah Walton who recorded 18 points.

Finney drilled a pull up jumper just over two minutes into the game to give Springfield a 6-1 edge and would later put back her own miss at the 5:16 mark to push the Pride's lead to 14-8. After Hess finished in the lane with 1:45 on the clock to make it a 20-14 contest, the Ephs would close out the stanza on a 5-2 push to trim Springfield's lead to 22-19 after 10 minutes of play.  Led by eight-first quarter points by Czeremcha, Springfield would shoot 10-of-15 in the opening quarter.

Williams would score eight of the first 12 points in the second quarter to take their first lead of the game with 7:37 on the clock when Walton got in the lane for a bucket.  Springfield would build its advantage back to 39-33 on a pair of free throws from Carrano with under three minutes to go in the frame, only to have Williams close out the quarter on a 7-0 push to own a 40-39 halftime edge.

After going down 44-39 in the early moments of the third, Springfield manufactured a 14-2 run capped off by a Leary layup to push the hosts lead to 53-46 at the 3:22 mark. A floater from Hess inside the final minute would allow Springfield to own a 55-51 edge entering the fourth.

Leary canned a triple with 7:33 left in regulation to help Springfield's lead grow to seven, but Williams would rattle off 11 unanswered points as they hit all four of their field goal attempts to regain a 62-58 lead following a driving score from Gerig. Carrano and Leary would answer the call with back-to-back triples, only to have Ellie Tounkara bury a corner triple with 7.7 seconds left on the clock as the visitors took a 71-70 lead.  Out of a Pride timeout, Czeremcha got free for an uncontested layup for what would prove to be the game-winning score as Williams was unable to convert a pair of close looks in the final seconds.

Next up for Springfield will be a non-conference clash with Worcester State on December 3 at 7:30 pm.
 
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