By Tucker Paquette
@tpaquette17
As the Springfield College women’s basketball team’s season approaches its end, the Pride earned a crucial 76-72 victory over Salve Regina on Wednesday night in Blake Arena.
The win pushes the Pride to 13-9 on the season, and helps them as they jockey for seeding in the upcoming NEWMAC tournament, slated to begin on Feb. 26. Entering Wednesday, Springfield, Salve Regina and Babson were all tied for the fourth seed.
While the final score of the late-season clash between the Pride and the Seahawks indicates the game was tightly fought, that only became the case in the second half. Springfield held a 10 point lead after the first quarter, and led Salve Regina by 16 points at halftime, the largest lead it held all game.
Springfield head coach Naomi Graves thinks the fact that her team came roaring out of the gates shows that they had the necessary mindset as the game neared. An added benefit of the Pride’s hot start in Graves’ eyes was the ability to deepen the team’s rotation.
“I think it builds our confidence that we were ready,” Graves said. “They’re a good team. I think in a lot of ways, we’re playing a lot of kids a lot of minutes, and a lot of minutes over the season. So I think it was huge that I could get a lot of kids in [during] the first half.”
However, as the second half began, the tides quickly turned. The Seahawks put up 27 points in the third frame, cutting Springfield’s lead to single digits in the process. They continued this push in the fourth quarter, at one point making it a one-possession game.
Ultimately, though, the Pride were able to pull away in the closing minutes of the game. A pair of baskets by junior guard Amanda Leary in the final 3:11 gave the Pride added breathing room. Leary and sophomore guard Claire Finney combined to tally three free-throws in the game’s final 30 seconds that fully sealed the deal on Springfield’s victory.
Graves believes that facing the adversity of an opposing team’s run is a healthy thing for a team, especially one as young as Springfield. She thinks that when push came to shove, the Pride did what they were supposed to.
“Having a good lead and then having a team make a run makes them really strong,” Graves said of her team. “I don’t feel like we escaped. I feel like we took care of business when we needed to.”
Finney, Leary and senior forward Angie Czeremcha led the way for Springfield, leading the team in scoring and each making shots when the pressure was raised. Efficient shooting percentages were instrumental in all three of their respective performances – Leary had 21 points on 53.8 percent shooting, Finney tallied 19 points on 4 of 7 shooting and Czeremcha posted 16 points and 13 rebounds on a 50 percent clip.
For her part, Finney was trying to be aggressive throughout the game. She got to the free-throw line 14 times, a testament to her attacking mentality.
“I really knew I wanted to be an offensive threat,” Finney said. “I kind of knew how they were going to guard me, so I really wanted to be able to execute the way I know how. I really just wanted to play my game.”
The Pride will be back in action in Blake Arena on Saturday at 3 p.m. against Babson, a game that figures to have serious implications for the NEWMAC tournament.
(Photo courtesy of Springfield College Athletics)