Box Score GENEVA, N.Y.—The No. 20 William Smith College basketball team opened the NCAA Division III Tournament with a 76-72 victory over Colby-Sawyer College in Bristol Gym tonight. The Herons were led by senior guard Marisa Vespa (Immaculate Heart/Watertown, N.Y.), who scored a game-high 27 points, grabbed a team-high six boards, dished out five assists, and made three steals.

William Smith (24-3) overcame its largest halftime deficit of the season by scoring 52 second-half points, the most the Herons have scored in a 20-minute span this year. The home team shot 58.3 percent from behind the three-point arc, including 4-for-4 in the second half, and knocked down a season’s best 83.3 percent from the free throw line. William Smith came into the game hitting just 64.4 percent from the stripe, but converted 25-of-30, including a spectacular 20-of-21 after the break.

Colby-Sawyer (21-8) built a 33-24 halftime lead by shooting 40.6 percent from the floor, while limiting the Herons to just 29.6. The Chargers also connected on 4-of-8 from long range while seizing a 25-16 rebounding edge.

With the game tied 14-all midway through the opening stanza, Colby-Sawyer went on a 13-4 run that saw five different players score for the visitors. William Smith answered with six straight points to make it a 27-24 game, but the Chargers came back with six of their own to head into the intermission.

The Herons outscored their guests 16-7 to start the second half, including nine points from Vespa, to tie the game at 40-40 with 14:23 remaining. The lead changed hands four times over the next five minutes. A pair of made free throws by both graduate student guard Paula Foote (Sidney/Sidney, N.Y.) and first-year guard Mollie Danahy (Troy/Troy, N.Y.) game William Smith a 54-51 lead, an advantage they would not relinquish.

The Herons still clung to a 1-point lead, 58-57, following a three-point play by junior center Emma Pasquale (Marshwood/Eliot, Maine). That’s when Foote took over. She scored the game’s next nine points to put William Smith in charge 67-57 with 4:26 to go. The Chargers managed to trim their deficit to four, three times in the last 90 seconds, but got no closer.

Vespa shot 8-of-10 from the floor, hitting three threes. Foote finished with 18 points, including a perfect 7-of-7 from the line. Junior guard Latasha Coney (Lyons/Lyons, N.Y.) joined the pair in double digits with 15 points, including a career-high three threes.

Pasquale led the Chargers with 21 points, connecting on 10-of-13 from the floor, while corralling a game-high eight rebounds. Senior forward Noelle Surette (Waynflete/Buxton, Maine) added 19 points and a game-high seven assists, while sophomore forward Terri Duffy (Marshfield/Marshfield, Mass.) added 11 points and seven rebounds.

William Smith will face Brockport in the second round at 7 p.m. on Sat., March 8. The Golden Eagles defeated Emmanuel 68-64 in the night’s first contest.