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Herons win Liberty crown, earn NCAA bid
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Paula Foote scored 10 of her career-
high 14 points in the first half of William
Smith's 68-55 Liberty League Champ
ionship win over St. Lawrence. |
February 26 , 2005
GENEVA, N.Y.—Top-seeded William Smith College won the 2005 Liberty League Women’s Basketball Tournament and the accompanying automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament, 68-55, over No. 2 St. Lawrence University this afternoon in Bristol Gym. The Herons pulled away in the second half to secure their first conference championship since 1999.
“Our main goal was to win a championship,” first-year William Smith Head Coach Olympia Scott-Richardson said. “Championship ball is when you bring it every single day. It’s not something you can turn on when you get to the game. It’s something that is a habit, because you do it so much, it’s second nature. Your first thought, your second thought, and third thought is to play like a champion. This team really bought into that.”
The first half was a nip and tuck affair that saw the lead change hands eight times. William Smith’s seven-point advantage with 5:54 remaining in the opening stanza was the largest of the period, but St. Lawrence (15-10) closed out the session with a 14-5 run to take a 34-32 lead into the break.
William Smith sophomore guard Paula Foote (Sidney/Sidney, N.Y.) was the high scorer at halftime with 10 of her career-high 14 points. She finished the game 5-of-7 from the floor, including two three-pointers.
In the second half, sophomore forward Meredith Pridgen (Hanover/Hanover, N.H.) tied the contest for the eighth and final time with 14:46 remaining. From there, the Herons (18-7) launched a 15-3 run to build a 12-point lead. Junior forward Tanya Richvalsky (Mohawk/Mohawk, N.Y.) scored five of her 12 points during the surge.
Defensively, meanwhile, William Smith held St. Lawrence without a field goal for over seven minutes (11:46 to 3:28). The Saints never got closer than nine down the stretch.
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The 2005 Liberty League Champion |
The Herons, who cut down the nets following the victory, torched the twine in the second half, shooting 52.4 percent from the floor (.412 for the game), while holding St. Lawrence to just 29.2 percent (.373).
First-year guard Marisa Vespa (Immaculate Heart/Watertown, N.Y.) matched Foote’s team-high 14 points, while first-year forward Stephanie Czajkowski (Bishop Ludden/Syracuse, N.Y.) added 10.
Sophomore forward Andrea Muszynski (Mt. Mercy/Buffalo, N.Y.) was the lone Saint in double digits with a game-high 15 points.
The victory marks the Herons’ first conference tournament championship and their first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2000. The 2005 brackets will be announced at 10:30 p.m., on Feb. 27.