BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The William Smith College women's basketball team earned an 84-76 overtime win over host Bridgewater State University in the semifinals of The Cave Classic held on Friday evening at the Tinsley Center.
William Smith will take on Colby College in the tournament championship on Saturday afternoon at two. Colby cruised to an 84-48 victory against Wesley College in the other semifinal matchup. Bridgewater State and Wesley will face-off in the consolation game at noon.
The Herons (2-0) were led by junior guard Melanie Patterson (Vestal, N.Y.), freshman forward Mia Morrison (Geneva, N.Y.) and junior forward Gabrielle Eure (East Syracuse, N.Y.). Patterson tallied 18 points, six rebounds and seven assists. Morrison posted a double-double with 17 points and 16 rebounds, while Eure also recorded a double-double with 17 points and a game-high 20 rebounds.
William Smith dominated on the boards out-rebounding the hosts by a healthy margin of 64-33.
Junior forward Jennie Lindland (Edgartown, Mass.) paced the Bears (1-2) with 19 points, eight rebounds and five steals off the bench, while freshman guard Sara DaSilva (Chelmsford, Mass.), junior forward Chanelle Melton (Brockton, Mass.) and sophomore guard Christine Curran (Ayer, Mass.) contributed 13, 11 and ten points, respectively. Curran also pulled down six rebounds.
Bridgewater State struggled at the floor and most significantly at the free throw line. The Bears shot 36.7% (29-79) from the field and converted just 12 of 26 (46.2%) free throw attempts.
Pressure defense kept the Bears in the game as they forced 31 turnovers which led to a 26-8 advantage in points off turnovers. The BSU bench also outscored the William Smith reserves by a margin of 42-15 with Lindland, DaSilva and Curran accounting for all 42 points.
William Smith held a 15-9 lead after one quarter of play. An 8-0 second period run extend the Herons' advantage to 25-22 with 6:22 left in the half. Morrison went 4-for-4 from the free throw line during the spurt.
William Smith maintained the double-digit advantage until the latter stages of the second quarter. The Bears closed out the first half with a 9-0 run as they held the Herons scoreless over the final 3:46. Curran and sophomore guard Rhiana Page (Brookline, Mass.) combined for all nine points during the run.
A three-pointer by Curran followed by a pair of foul shots by Melton tied the score at 34-34 midway through the third quarter. The Bears took their first lead of the game later in the period as Lindland converted a breakaway layup off a turnover.
Sophomore forward Kendra Quinn-Moultrie (Hamburg, N.Y.) answered with a three-pointer to put the Herons back on top, 44-43. DaSilva connected on a log jumper and Lindland added a pair of free throws to give the Bears a 47-44 advantage. A Morrisson layup in the waning seconds of the third quarter made it a 47-46 game heading into the final period.
A Lauren Brustein (Vestal, N.Y.) baseline jumper opened the fourth quarter scoring and put the Herons back out in front, 48-47. DaSilva answered with a three-pointer to put the Bears on top, 50-48.
William Smith junior forward Alyssa DiCampli (Irvington, N.Y.) tied it up with a layup off an offensive rebound, but Lindland converted 1 of 2 at the line at the other end for a 51-50 BSU lead.
Morrisson drove to the hoop for a layup and was fouled but missed the ensuing free throw. The Herons, however, controlled the rebound and sophomore guard Sarah Brophy (Bridgewater, N.J.) drained a trifecta to give William Smith the 55-51 advantage. Following a missed BSU three-pointer, Morrisson converted another layup to open up a six-point advantage, 57-51, with six minutes left to play.
Bridgewater answered with five straight points on a DaSilva layup and free throw and a Lindland layup to pull to within one at 57-56.
A Brophy jumper followed by a Patterson layup extended the Heron lead to 61-56 with 3:22 remaining.
The teams exchanged four points apiece over the next three minutes with a pair of Patterson free throws giving the Herons a 65-60 lead with 22 seconds left in regulation.
DaSilva drained a three-pointer with 19 seconds showing to make it a two-point game, 65-63.
Patterson knocked down two-free throws at the other end of the floor, but BSU senior guard Vanessa Conceicao (New Bedford, Mass.) buried a three-pointer with two seconds remaining to pull the Bears to within one, 67-66.
The Bears fouled immediately and Patterson calmly sank both free throws with 1.7 seconds left. Off a long inbounds pass, Curran drained an off-balance three-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
The Herons held the advantage in play in the five-minute overtime period outscoring the Bears 15-7. William Smith connected on all four of its field goal attempts, including one three-pointer, and went 6-for-10 at the charity stripe.
After Lindland gave the Bears their only lead in overtime (72-71) with a layup at the 3:04 mark, the Herons used an 11-2 run, highlighted by a three-pointer from DiCampli, to put the game out of reach.