This past Saturday, the Smith College basketball team took on MIT in a New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference game. Going into the match, they knew it was an important one. Tia Karapoulios ‘16, who chipped in with 2 points on Saturday said, “Every conference game is always important. We knew we had to play hard together on defense.”Not only were they facing a NEWMAC opponent, but MIT was also coming off a huge win against NEWMAC first-place team Wellesley two days prior. Karapoulios added, “MIT always gives us a competitive game so we knew going into it we would have to play as a team the entire time.” And the Pioneers did just that.
The team came away with a 65 – 54 victory. Lauren Weston ‘15 led the charge for the Pioneers with 12 points and seven rebounds, while Paulina Solis ‘15 and Jazmine Collins ‘17 each added 11 points. Captain Rosa Drummond ‘14 grabbed nine rebounds and also added 10 points, while classmate Sydney Parkmond ’14 and Jade Chihara ‘17 tacked on 9 points apiece for the Pioneers.
With this win, Smith improves to a 12 – 10 overall record and a 12 – 5 record within conference play, which lands them in second place in the NEWMAC standings. Shannon Saywell ’16 commented on the win, “Beating MIT secured Smith second place in the NEWMAC. We found a way to overcome a slower start to the game and bring up the lead to get the win. The fight against MIT shows how a team can face adversity at first in the beginning of the season and fight back to see success later on, MIT being the sixth of Smith’s win streak in the conference.”
Smith gets back at it on Wednesday when they travel to Springfield College, which is currently 13 – 9 overall with a 9 – 8 record in conference play. When the two teams last played each other on Jan 9th, the Pioneers earned an 82 – 64 victory. Smith’s final regular season home game is on Saturday, Feb 15th at 2p.m. against the United States Coast Guard Academy.
