WBB: NESCAC

[NH NESCAC Fan]

Sorry to report amh63...Sally Marx is not back.  Must have been a bad stat.

[amh63]

NH NESCAC Fan....Thanks for the update.  Nice to hear from you....even if you are bringer of sad news.  I had looked at the roster before the game on the Amherst website.   While "watching" the Live Stats...if you can call it that..late in the 2nd half, Sally's name was on the players' list.  I went to the "players on the floor" visual but she was not there. 

[NH NESCAC Fan]

amh63...will you be going to any games this year?

[amh63]

Amherst wins another "ugly" game on the road against Hamilton.....50-43.   How bad!  It was Hamilton 23 to 12 over Amherst at the half......yes, Amherst scores only 12 points as no starters could score and Meg Robertson sitting with 3 fouls.  M. Voigt had 2 points and it was S. Holness coming off the bench with 8 points in the first half....going 4-4 from the foul line.  In the second half, Voigt led the comeback with 14 points and Holness getting 10 more in the second half to lead the team with 18 points.  Meg Robertson comes back and scores several baskets but goes to the bench with 4-fouls somewhere by the middle of the half.  Amherst steps up on defense and even gets the rebounds as the Continentials had out rebounded Amherst in the first half.  Bridget Crowley plays well in the 2nd half and aids in the comeback.   Maybe it was the long ride to Clinton...as the Lady Jeffs played with no bounce and were generally flat.  They were out shot and out hustled in the first .....but with more energy, they held their opponent to 20 points in the second while scoring 38 themselves.   Coach G used more players from his bench....trying to get something going and I could see the younger players playing smarter and with more confidence late in the game.  Amherst shot only around 17% in the first half.  Both teams ended with only 2 outside shots made in the game and shot in the low 30% for the game overall.  Amherst had more rebounds, blocks and played better defense.  In the second half, Amherst composure was evident as the Hamilton players made more turnovers and rushed their shots......after Amherst took the lead and even got it to double figures several times.

[Maine 1]

Based on what we have seen so far, it would appear that Tufts is the class of the NESCAC this season.  Amherst continues to struggle (third game in a row, so there is a trend here).  Tufts had beaten Williams, and handled Bowdoin at Bowdoin last night.  It does appear the Conn College may be up and coming.  The top three teams will likely be Tufts, Williams and Amherst (not necessarily in that order) and then my sense is that the next five spots could fall to any of the remaining 11 teams. Hamilton looks like it is playing in tough luck, with three very close losses, so they may have dug themselves a bit of a hole. The Bates-Bowdoin game today will could have a big impact on the overall results.  Bates won earlier this year in Lewiston, but this game is at Bowdoin.
Overall, the league is definitely down from prior years.

[nescachoopsfan2]

Yes, perhaps not the prettiest win for Amherst, but I think it's a good sign that they were able to rally and win despite getting only 15 minutes from Megan Robertson (who, although only a sophomore, is still a leading NESCAC Player of the Year candidate, in my opinion). According to the stats, Robertson went to the bench with her fourth foul with 10:51 left and Amherst trailing by 6. Very tenuous situation for Amherst, but Savannah Holness came in for Robertson and contributed 10 points on 4-4 shooting over the final 8 minutes. Doesn't appear as though Robertson returned to the game, which tells you how well Holness played. Should be a confidence builder for Amherst to see someone outside the starting five step up as Holness did last night, albeit against a middling Hamilton team.

Williams continues to look very impressive. They have four of the top 20 scorers in the conference, only two (very close) losses, and wide margins of victory in almost all their other games - including last night against Wesleyan. Hard to believe they're not in the top 25.

Agree with Maine1 that Williams, Amherst, and Tufts are the top 3, but I don't think Tufts is necessarily the clear-cut favorite. Williams played a great second half against Tufts and nearly rallied twice from double-digit deficits before coming up short. That game could have had a much different outcome if Williams had not dug itself a hole over the first 25 minutes or so. Meanwhile, Tufts hasn't beaten Amherst in at least five years and has to go to LeFrak on the second half of a back-to-back NESCAC to try to end that spell. Would not at all be surprised if Tufts wound up being the best in the league this year, but I feel that Williams and Amherst are right there with them.

[amh63]

Maine1....good points all.  Have not seen Tufts play this season....though at this point in the season, will have to agree with you.  Don't know if your analyses will apply when the "CAC" tournament time arrives  Amherst, imo, after watching a very poor effort in the first half, where no one could make even a layup, showed me in the second half some hope that they CAN become a very good team as the season progress.

[amh63]

NH NESCAC Fan,,,,,missed your post earlier.  My present schedule has me up for the Bates/Tufts games in early Feb.  I make my annual trip to Florida soon after and hope to make some tournament games in LeFrak later in the season.  Go visit your Father -in-law then and make an appearance in LeFrak....for the Tufts game.  My treat to snacks!

[Maine 1]

Another interesting weekend in the Conference.  Middlebury rebounds with a good win after losing to Conn College on Friday.  Tufts defense smothers Colby (Tufts wins by 14, even though they are out shot from the arc by a margin of 24-3 ).  Watched a bit of that game on-line, and Tufts is very strong on defense.  Surprised by the Bates win over Bowdoin, but Bates two wins over the Maine teams this weekend could be very large in tie-breakers down the line.  Trinity at Hamilton today will be interesting.  Hamilton is due for a win.

[amh63]

Speaking of Tufts fine season under Coach Carla Burube...now 15-0, will pass along a story from the now legendary HC of UConn's WBB team. I'm a fan of the UConn WBB program.   The head coach on his weekly TV show was told that his former player Carla had reached 200 wins faster than he did at UCONN. His "tongue-in-cheek", dry humor reply....paraphrasing here a bit..."Carla did it because she coaches SMART players at Tufts.  I had to coach dumb players like Carla here at UConn." Carla played on a national championship team at Storrs CT. and was a starter, I believe.

[amh63]

Amherst wins big  over Kean in NJ...81-53.  Five players were in double figures for Amherst leading to the "blowout" against a Kean team that seems to be having a down year.  Kean was led by senior guard Erika Jones who had 34 points and 12 rebounds....shooting 5-9 from the outside in the first half alone.  Amherst led 42-30 at the half.  Amherst's pick up its defense in the second half...pulling away to a 30 plus point lead.  Jones had to return to the game after a rest....due to little offensive support from her team mates.  Every one on Amherst's team entered the game.  The taller Amherst team dominated the rebounds, led by Jasmine Hardy who had double figure rebounds along with her 15 points....mainly from outside shots.  Robertson led the team with blocks and joined B. Crowley, M. Voigt, and S. Holeness with double figure points.  Crowley and Holeness also approached getting double figure rebounds. 
More specific and accurate stats will be posted on the Amherst website soon.
Now Amherst will have a long home stand with two conference teams awaiting this weekend.

[Maine 1]

Nice win for Williams tonight over Babson, at Babson.  Williams won by 20, and appeared to dominate the game opening up a big lead at the half.  Williams shot extremely well from 3, and shot well over all.  Should get Williams back into the top 25 next week.

[amh63]

Amherst gets a workout today against Bowdoin for a half.  Amherst wins in LeFrak 74-58, but it was the Polar Bears 36-30 at the half.  S. Lorrey of Bowdoin scored 15 points all from the arc.  Amherst was letting her shoot and struggled as Bowdoin put up an energetic defense on Amherst and missed a number of inside shots.  In the second half, it was the complete opposite.  Amherst quickly ties the score and goes ahead with inside shots and outside shots by Voigt and Hardy.  Hardy goes 5-9 from beyond and Amherst's defense shuts out Bowdoin.  Megan Robertson makes a ton of blocks and Amherst causes the Bears to foul......With less than 10 minutes to go Bowdoin had 8 fouls and it was soon 10 fouls...Amherst's defense was tight and yet had few fouls.  By the 3 minute mark, with Amherst by a 10-12 points margin....Bowdoin starts to foul....Voigt going to the foul lane or Robertson and Crowley going to the line and it was soon over.  Better recap and more specific stats to be posted on the Amherst website soon.  Four starters scored in double figures and Crowley led with 10 rebounds with Robertson closely behind with 9.

[Maine 1]

Some observations after another interesting Friday night in the NESCAC (caught parts of some games on internet).  I thought Bowdoin looked very good for one half against Amherst (I was actually surprised), but it appears Amherst wore Bowdoin down in the second half.  I believe that Bowdoin is a bit better than the current 1-3 record.   Good second half form Amherst.  Tufts continues to dominate.  The Tufts-Amherst game will be very interesting, as will this weeks Amherst-Williams match. Hamilton finally came out on top of a close game, and is clearly a competitive team.  Conn College had a very impressive win at Bates (always a tough place to play). Trinity looked ready to blow Colby out, but Colby came back, but doesn have enough offensive power on its team right now. Althought Trinity is currently 3-1 in the league, they do have all the strong teams ahead of them. It continues to look like Tufts, Williams and Amherst are the clear top 3 teams in the league,  but 4-8 is wide open.  The second half with be very interesting.

[amh63]

Amherst beats Colby at home yesterday 69-60.  The particular are on the Amherst website.  The game was as the announcer stated soon over early in the second half.  Both sides cleared the bench.....Colby having a 14-2 run to cut the Amherst lead to only nine.  For Amherst, it was a good game for its FY players.  Amherst had four double point scorers.....two were by FY guards and one by the backup front court player, S. Holeness...who has been coming up big lately as she has been getting more time on the floor.  Meg Robertson was on the floor for only 17 minutes as she has been taking a few tumbles lately.  Colby had some game players but were clearly not a threat to upset Amherst.  Amherst had been looking for more scorers...especially from outside.  Finally, the FY guards....getting more floor time and confidence of late has started to provide points....inside and outside.