Box Score LANCASTER, Pa.—First-year
Lauren DeVaney scored with 0.7 seconds remaining to give the William Smith College basketball team a 79-78 lead over Elizabethtown College. The Herons then held their breath as the Blue Jays launched a contested 3-pointer at the buzzer, only exhaling with the shot missed its mark.
William Smith picked up its first win of the young season with four players in double figures, led by junior
Stavriana Dimitrakopoulou. She produced a team-high 16 points, seven rebounds and a game-high five assists. Sophomore
Olivia Parisi added 15 points and seven boards. Senior
Emma Gallagher and sophomore
Stella Davis chipped in 12 points and 10 points, respectively. DeVaney finished with nine points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
The Herons (1-1) enjoyed a 48-39 advantage on the glass and shot 40.3 percent from the floor while making 11 3-pointers.
William Smith finished the first quarter on an 8-1 run, taking a 21-15 lead on a Davis 3-pointer. Elizabethtown (2-1) used a similar script to take a 35-33 lead into halftime. The Blue Jays scored the final six points of the half, including Lydia Lawson's layup that gave them the lead. She produced a game-high 22 points.
After trailing by as many as six early in the third quarter, William Smith used another late flurry to reclaim the lead. A 14-5 Heron run to end the frame turned a 1-point deficit into an 8-point advantage. First-year
Kerstin Kelly had a pair of 3-point plays during the surge, giving William Smith a 52-48 lead with a shot from beyond the arc and then boosting the lead to 60-53 with an old-fashion 3-point play.
The Herons led by as many as nine in the fourth quarter, but saw Elizabethtown use a 12-3 run to knot the game at 67. Over the final four minutes, neither side led by more than a single possession. Mikayla Ruth gave the Blue Jays a 78-77 lead on a pair of free throws with 11 seconds to go. She finished with 21 points.
On William Smith's ensuing possession, senior
Annaliese Schreder (8 pts, 5 rebs, 3 assts), missed a 3-point try, but DeVaney put back the rebound for the lead.
The Herons will meet Wilkes (3-0) in the Classic's championship game at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 17. The Colonels upended the host Diplomats 53-50 in the Classic's other first round game.
