Staff Writer
The Springfield College women’s basketball team (11-9, 7-6) could not surpass Smith College’s (15-4, 10-3) dominant defense in a 59-49 New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference defeat Wednesday night.
The Pioneers’ Rosa Drummond finished the game with a double-double, 19 points and 12 rebounds, while her teammate Maddie Page posted 15 points and five rebounds. The ball was just seemed to go through the hoop for the Smith, but for Springfield, not so much.
The shooting woes got the best of the Pride as they shot 27 percent. The Pride’s Meghan Biondolillo was the team’s high scorer with 13 points.
The Pride had a sign of life with five minutes remaining when Biondolillo came off a powerful screen set by fellow junior Emily Walker. The pick freed up Biondolillo for an uncontested layup, which tied the game.
Turnovers were an issue for both sides.
“We had bad, unforced and decision turnovers,” said Springfield head coach Naomi Graves. “We are going to enforce that tomorrow in practice. We will work on being stronger with the basketball.”
Smith College went on another late run and stopped the Pride from coming back with little time remaining on the clock. The Pioneers took care of the ball down the stretch to hold on for the victory.
Springfield will go on to face NEWMAC rival WPI (3-9, 5-14) on Saturday at 12 p.m. The game will be Springfield’s annual Breast Cancer Awareness game. The Pride are attempting to make a big push for conference play.
“We beat WPI on a last second shot at their place,” Graves said. “We are looking forward to this upcoming game because it is our Breast Cancer Awareness game and [a]NEWMAC battle in general.”
Notes: Currently Springfield is positioned fifth in the NEWMAC standings. Babson, Smith, and Clark hold down the top-three spots, while Wellesley comes in at fourth. Springfield is right behind them at fifth and if the standings remain the same, Wellesley and SC will meet in the post season for the third straight season.