Springfield, Mass. – January 6, 2026 – The Springfield College women's basketball team scored the first 13 points of the fourth quarter and held off a late surge by No. 19/22 Amherst College to defeat the Mammoths by a 70-66 final in non-conference action on Tuesday evening in Blake Arena. 

Tonight's victory marked the first win for the Pride over Amherst in Blake Arena since February of 2006, but now Springfield has won two straight contests over the Mammoths in the all-time series.

Springfield, which was receiving votes in this week's D3hoops.com national poll, improved to 9-4 and picked up its third victory over a ranked team this season, while Amherst, ranked No. 19 & 22 by D3hoops and the WBCA, suffered only its second loss of the season and is now 9-2 this year.

Claire Finney (Haverhill, Mass.) poured in a career-high 23 points and shot 9-for-15 from the floor. Natalie Lucas (Madison, Conn.) notched 13 points, six rebounds, two steals, two blocks and two assists, while Carrie Hess (Shrewsbury, Mass.) added 12 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks. Amanda Leary (Westbury, N.Y.) stuffed the stat sheet with eight points, seven rebounds and two steals.

As a team, Springfield scored 30 of its 70 points in the paint and held a decisive 36-25 differential on the glass, which also featured 12 offensive rebounds for the Pride this evening. Springfield held Amherst to a 41.5-percent shooting percentage from the floor. Annie McCarthy guided Amherst with 22 points – 15 of which came from behind the arc – and five rebounds tonight.

Springfield trailed 53-49 through three quarters, but a three point bucket by Lucas off a pass from Finney cut it to a one point game and ignited a string of 13 straight points for the Pride to open the fourth. Hess knocked down a jumper and Leary and Finney drove to the hoop for layups before Leary capped the run with back-to-back field goals making it a 62-53 game with five minutes remaining in regulation.

Amherst was able to pull within one possession on two occasions down the stretch at 67-64 and 68-66, but Lucas drained one shot from the charity stripe and Finney buried both attempts with five seconds to play to account for the 70-66 final.

Amherst led 18-13 through one quarter and went ahead by as many as 11 in the second at 30-19 following a trey by McCarthy with 6:45 remaining before the break. It was Lucas who knocked down a jumper in the paint off a short pass from Finney which kick started a run of ten straight points for the Pride pulling the hosts with one at 30-29 before a jumper from Izzy Pazzaglia (Salem, Conn.) inside the paint gave Springfield its first lead of the game at 33-32 with less than a minute before halftime. Amherst answered and held just a one point edge, 34-33, lead at the break.

The third quarter saw neither team gain more than a three point advantage before Springfield's impressive fourth quarter run ultimately sealed the win this evening.
Springfield returns to action on Saturday with a non-conference tilt with No. 3/4 Smith College in Blake Arena at 1:00 pm.

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