Box Score UNION, N.J.—The No. 20 William Smith College basketball team lost to No. 24 Oglethorpe University 69-63 in the sectional semifinal round of the NCAA Tournament in Harwood Arena tonight. The Herons end the season at 25-4, while the Stormy Petrels improve to 26-5.

The first half got off to an ominous start for William Smith. The Herons won the opening tip, but promptly committed the first of 19 first half turnovers. Employing an end-to-end, high intensity defense and an equally frenetic offense, Oglethorpe quickly seized a 14-4 lead.

The Herons settled down and used a 15-6 push to close the gap to one, 20-19, at the 8:46 mark. Oglethorpe stretched its lead to as many as 10 down the stretch, before a 6-0 William Smith run narrowed the gap to 31-25 on the way to a 32-27 halftime.

Turnovers aside, the Herons shot the ball well, connecting on 44 percent of their shots (compared to 35.3 percent for the Stormy Petrels). William Smith was also less effective without senior guard Marisa Vespa (Immaculate Heart/Watertown, N.Y.) and sophomore forward Erin Cunningham (Morris Knolls/Rockaway, N.J.) in the lineup. Vespa was charged with her third foul with 7:20 remaining in the opening frame, while Cunningham was tagged with her third at the 3:56 mark.

The Herons needed little more than five minutes off the clock in the second half to tie the game. Vespa hit a pair of baskets, while junior guards Paige Myers (Massena/Massena, N.Y.) and Latasha Coney (Lyons/Lyons, N.Y.) hit threes in a 10-3 run.

Junior guard Katie Kulavic (St. Pius/Norcross, Ga.) answered with a traditional three-point play to return Oglethorpe to the lead. Four minutes later, Coney notched a three-point play of her own to tie the game 48-48 with 8:53 remaining.

A three-minute scoring drought along with three straight buckets by OU put the Petrels back in front for good.

First-year guard Mollie Danahy (Troy/Troy, N.Y.) and graduate student guard Paula Foote (Sidney/Sidney, N.Y.) both hit threes to get the Herons within three over the final four minutes, but that was as close as William Smith could get.

Vespa broke the school’s single season assist record in the final minute of the contest, setting up a Foote three with 34 seconds remaining to make the score 65-59. Vespa raised her season total to 177, one more than Kim Dennin’s ’99 1996-97 mark. She completed her career with 579 helpers, three shy of Dennin’s career standard.

Four Herons reached double digits in the scoring column. William Smith had been 19-0 coming into the game when three or more Herons notched at least 10 points. Foote led the way with 14 points, a career-high matching five steals, and three assists. Coney contributed 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds, while Cunningham added 11 points and a game-high three blocked shots. Vespa was the fourth William Smith player in double digits with 10 points.

Kulavic scored a game-high 23 points and junior forward Tina Grace (Pensacola Catholic/Pensacola, Fla.) added 17 points. Junior guard Anna Findley (East Paulding/Hiram, Ga.) chipped in 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds, while senior guard Brittany Corbett (St. Pius/Chamblee, Ga.) added 10.