December 10 , 2004

GENEVA, N.Y.—William Smith first-year Marisa Vespa (Immaculate Heart/Watertown, N.Y.) posted game-highs with 21 points, seven assists, and four steals, but it wasn’t enough to lift the Herons over the hot-shooting Nazareth College women’s basketball team tonight in Bristol Gym. The Golden Flyers improved to 3-1 on the season with a 67-62 victory over the Herons.

Midway through the first half, William Smith (2-3) had built a six-point lead on a three-pointer by Vespa, but Nazareth responded with a 17-2 run that put the Golden Flyers up nine, 35-26, with 1:33 remaining in the opening stanza. Senior forward Sarah Shipley (Palmyra-Macedon/Macedon, N.Y.) capped the run with five straight points. She compiled a team-high 20 points and seven rebounds.

The Herons closed the gap over the final 81 seconds with a 6-0 run, sparked by a pair of layups by senior forward Ivy Parker (Corcoran/Syracuse, N.Y.). She finished with eight points.

Nazareth, which shot 50 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, led 35-32 at the break.

The Golden Flyers expanded their advantage to 10 by the 14:42 mark thanks to a three-pointer by senior guard Jaimee McGivern (Shaker/Latham, N.Y.). She finished with 16 points.

Vespa refused to let her team go without a fight, engineering a 14-5 Heron run during which she scored eight points and dished out a pair of assists. The streak pulled William Smith within two, 53-51, but Nazareth maintained its lead over the final 10 minutes for the five-point victory.

Junior forward Tanya Richvalsky (Mohawk/Mohawk, N.Y.) was the only other Heron in double digits (10 points), while sophomore guard Sarah Homer (Bethlehem/Delmar, N.Y.) contributed 14 points for the Golden Flyers.

William Smith returns to action at 7 p.m., on Jan. 3, when the Herons travel to Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

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