SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- Entering the game on an 11-game win streak and an all-time highest national ranking at No. 5, the Smith College basketball team easily made it 12 in a row with an 85-24 NEWMAC win at Mount Holyoke College on Saturday afternoon.
Smith's win was a complete team effort, with all 12 players logging double-digits in minutes played, and 11 of them scoring. Reserves Selam Maher and Ellie Potvin tied for the team lead in minutes played with 24 apiece.
Smith's leading scorer this season, forward Morgan Morrison, led the Pioneers with 15 points in just 11 minutes of action, in addition to five rebounds, two assists and a block. Ashlyn Bohn was the only other Pioneer in double figures with 12 points. Bohn added six rebounds and two blocks.
Starting Smith guards Dashelle Gleissner and Amelia Clairmont dished out four assists apiece, both in 11 minutes of play. Ellie Potvin led all players with five assists. Maher submitted a stellar game off Smith's bench with a game-high 12 rebounds and seven points, four steals and three assists.
With the Lyons' top two scorers again out of action, sophomore captain Marley Berano (Lady Lake, Fla.) led a shorthanded Mount Holyoke side in scoring for the second straight game with seven points, as six Lyons entered the scoring column. First-year Kendall Maurer (Orinda, Calif.) made a pair of 3-pointers for six points, and junior Isabel Cordes (Yorktown, Va.) added five points in 40 minutes of action. First-year Taryn White (Alexandria, Va.) had her second straight double-digit rebounding game with a season-high 11 boards, to go with two steals.
Gleissner fed Morrison for a layup in the game's opening seconds, and the Pioneers took a 6-0 lead with additional buckets by Bohn and Morrison before Maurer put Mount Holyoke on the scoreboard with her first three. But a three-point play off an offensive putback by Bohn started an 11-0 Smith run, featuring three hoops by Morrison, that had the Pioneers leading by double digits the rest of the way.
Maurer added another three for Mount Holyoke to cut it to 17-6, but a full complement of Smith reserves ended the period with another 11-0 run and a 28-6 lead. Jane Loo and Cassidy Creager had two buckets apiece in the run, and Ally Yamada finished it off with a 3-pointer.
Mount Holyoke held Smith to 11 points on 5-13 (.385) shooting in the second quarter, but the Lyons made 2-17 from the field themselves in the period, and trailed 39-12 at the break.
Smith turned the game into a rout in the third period, outscoring Mount Holyoke 24-2 to lead 63-14 entering the fourth quarter. The Lyons committed nine of their 18 turnovers and made 1-10 shots from the field in the period, while Clairmont paced Smith with six points and three assists.
After making only two 3-pointers in the first half, Smith made 5-8 in the the third quarter, then made four more on 10 attempts in the fourth quarter as the Pioneers extended their lead another 12 points before the final buzzer.
Mount Holyoke (2-18, 0-5 NEWMAC) moves on to play at Coast Guard on Wednesday at 5:30pm.
