WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – Despite a 15-2 run in the fourth, Wellesley College basketball came up short in its comeback effort, falling 60-50 versus host Williams College on the opening day of the Shooting Touch Tournament at Chandler Gymnasium on Friday night.
Sophomore Trinity Barrow (Evans, Ga.) was in full force for The Blue (3-3) scoring 16 points with six steals. Barrow now sits at 10th in program history with 161 career steals. Sophomore Ava Shane (Plano, Texas) led all individuals with 20 points, including 10 made free throws. Classmate Proud Techarungchaikul (Bangkok, Thailand) pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds.
The Ephs (5-3) were led by 15 points and four steals from first-year Amaya Chase-Luthra (Queens, N.Y.). Senior Logan Coster (New York, N.Y.) recorded an 11 point, 13 rebound double-double. Williams utilized a 53-33 rebound advantage and 15 second chance points.
Williams led 12-7 after a low-scoring opening period. Barrow scored the first points of the game on a layup before the Ephs put five points on the board. First-year Tanvi Agarwal (Woodinville, Wash.) scored the remaining five points for the Blue, who limited the hosts to 5-of-22 shooting in the first quarter.
An Ephs three to start the second was quickly countered by a basket from Shane. A 5-1 stretch brought the Williams' lead to nine at 20-11 with four minutes left in the half. A pair of jumpers from Agarwal and Barrow cut the gap to five. The purple and gold ended the half with four of the final five points, up 24-16 after 20 minutes of play.
After both teams scored two points in the first 90 seconds of the second half, Williams launched a 15-0 offensive to go up 23 at 41-18 midway through the third quarter. Wellesley didn't go quietly, countering with a 12-2 stretch to cut it to 43-30 with a minute remaining in the stanza. The Ephs added three at the end of the quarter to go back up 46-30 with 10 minutes of action left.
An 11-0 run midway through fourth got the game back to single digits at 53-49. Barrow and Shane poured in the points and kept Wellesley competitive with its foe. Sophomore Stacy Chen (Minneapolis, Minn.) put the cherry on top with a spinning layup that made it a four point game. Williams regained composure late. Two layups from first-year Grace Augustine (Wilmington, Mass.) put the contest out of reach, though the Blue never stopped fighting.
Tomorrow both teams compete in the second day of the Shooting Touch tournament. The Blue competes against the loser of Eastern Connecticut State University and Saint Joseph's College of Maine at 1:00 PM. The winner plays Williams at 3:00 PM.
