Northampton, Mass. – February 27, 2026 – The fifth-seeded Springfield College women's basketball team fell to No. 5/7 nationally-ranked and top-seeded Smith College, 66-53, in the semifinal round of the 2026 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship Tournament on Friday night in Ainsworth Gymnasium.

Smith improved to 26-1 and will advance to the NEWMAC title game for the sixth consecutive season against Clark University on Sunday afternoon, while Springfield sees its 2025-26 campaign end at 16-11. Clark defeated Babson, 68-51, in the other semifinal this afternoon.

Smith remained unbeaten at home this season and is 16-0 in Ainsworth Gymnasium this year and 81-4 over the past five seasons.

Amanda Leary (Westbury, N.Y.) ended up leading Springfield with 13 points tonight all of which came in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, Claire Finney (Haverhill, Mass.) and Natalie Lucas (Madison, Conn.) both recorded ten points for the Pride. Leary also led Springfield with nine rebounds and two assists. Hannah Martin led all scorers with 19 points which included five three point buckets for Smith.

Springfield produced the first four points of the contest on jumpers by Lucas and Finney and eventually led 8-4 six minutes in following a pair of free throws by Finney, but a pair of shots from behind the arc from Martin and a layup by Mya Williams gave the homestanding Bears a 12-8 edge through one. Smith shot just 31.3-percent from the floor in the first and held Springfield to three field goals of its own (20.0-percent) over the opening ten minutes of play.

Smith scored the final eight points of the first and notched the first ten points of the second holding Springfield without a basket for nearly eight minutes extending the lead to 14 at 22-8 with 6:21 left in the half. A pair of free throws by Madison Lopez (Bronx, N.Y.) broke the scoreless streak for the Pride before a three point bucket from Lucas cut the deficit to ten. Lopez and Carrie Hess (Shrewsbury, Mass.) each made shots from the floor late in the half before a trey by Martin capped the scoring as Smith took a 32-20 lead into the break.

In the first half alone, Smith drained 11 shots from the floor including six from behind the arc, while the Bears held Springfield to just six made field goals over the first 20 minutes of the contest. The pride did, however, go 7-for-8 from the free throw line.

Smith went on to outscore Springfield 18-11 in the third, but Stefany Padula (Franklin, Mass.) and Ava Mamone (Troy, N.Y.) drained buckets late in the stanza to keep the game to a 50-31 score heading to the fourth.

Springfield had its best quarter of the game in the fourth tallying 22 of its 53 points with 13 of those coming from Leary. In the fourth, Springfield knocked down five shots from the floor and 11 of its 13 attempts from the free throw line, but Smith's offense was relentless as the Bears scored 16 of its own over the final ten minutes of play en route to the 66-53 final.

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