Basketball, Swimming & Diving teams prepare for Saturday clashes against Williams
Amherst Set to Host Four Matches against
Arch-Rivals
Basketball, Swimming & Diving teams
prepare for Saturday clashes against Williams
AMHERST, Massachusetts -- Four different
Amherst teams face off against arch-rival Williams College on
Saturday, beginning with the women's swimming and diving team,
which battles its nemesis at 1:00 p.m. in Pratt Pool. The men's
swimming and diving team's meet against the Ephs follows the conclusion
of the women's meet, before the action moves to LeFrak Gymnasium
for the evening basketball doubleheader. The women's basketball
team battles Williams in a 6:00 p.m. tip-off, while the men's
game is tentatively scheduled for 8:00 p.m., depending on the
finish of the women's game.
While admission to the swim meets is free,
the following ticket prices will be in effect for the basketball
doubleheader:
A limited number of media credentials are
available to the press corps by contacting Sarah Lukaska, Amherst's
Sports Information Director, at (413) 542-2390.
The Amherst Sports Information Hotline, (413)
542-JEFF (5333), will have up-to-the-minute updates throughout
the day on Saturday for those unable to attend.
Saturday night, LeFrak Gymnasium plays host to the 45th
meeting
of the Amherst and Williams College women's basketball teams in
the opening game of an Amherst/Williams basketball doubleheader.
The Jeffs, who are 19-25 against their arch-rivals all-time, are
out for revenge after the Ephs swept both meetings last year,
including a 55-53 win in Amherst last January 30, and an 81-73
overtime victory in Williamstown on January 16.
The Jeffs, who last defeated their arch-rivals two years
ago
in Williamstown, come into today's Little III opener with two
wins to show for two January games, including an impressive 65-59
win at Babson College on Thursday night, and a 65-62 win over
Smith College here on Tuesday night.
Senior Co-captain Naomi Sullivan (Hudson, MA) leads a
very young and talented Amherst team into the matchup, averaging
17 points and just under six rebounds per game. Sullivan has scored
at least 20 points on four different occasions this season, including
a 22-point effort against Smith and a 27-point outburst in 25
minutes at Babson on Thursday, the second-highest mark of her
career.
Behind Sullivan, the Jeffs will look to a trio of freshmen,
point
guard Sara Bozorg (Amherst, MA), shooting guard Sally
Hamill (Scitutate, MA) and center Sarah Walker (West Hartford,
CT), for much of their offense. Walker is second on the team
in scoring, averaging 9.6 points per game, and is pulling down
a NESCAC-best 10.8 rebounds per game, including a 20-rebound performance
against Keene State College on December 1. Bozorg and Hamill have
combined to average 14 points per game, while Bozorg's 3.9 assists
per game is a team-high and puts her up among the NESCAC leaders.
Junior Charlotte Taylor (Harvard, MA) has also given the
Jeffs a boost from the small forward position, including a career-high
10-point game against Smith on Tuesday, and a career-high nine
rebounds against Babson on Thursday.
The Ephs, who advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA
Tournament
one season ago, have struggled slightly in their quest to make
it back to the NCAAs, with losses in three of their last five
games, including a pair to Keene State and Babson, both teams
that the Jeffs have defeated.
Leading the way for Williams is the trio of senior
Tri-captain
Rebecca Brooks (Simsbury, CT), junior guard Liz Tilley
(Queens, NY) and first-year guard Kate Stumpo (Walpole,
MA), who are all averaging double-figures in points per game.
Brooks' 16 points and 9.5 rebounds per game are both team highs, and the senior can
become just the sixth women's basketball player in school history to reach the
1,000-point plateau with nine points against Amherst tomorrow.
The duo of Tri-captains Sam Daigenault (Center Harbor,
NH)
and Katie Ford (Lynnfield, MA) will also see quality minutes
for the visitors, along with freshman Abi Jackson (Jamaica
Plain, MA) and sophomore Nicole Stevens (Riviera Beach,
FL), who are scoring just under 15 points per game between
them.
Today's game opens the NESCAC conference schedule for both
teams,
with the Jeffs heading down to Little III rival Wesleyan University
on Tuesday night, while the Ephs host Hamilton College on Tuesday
before a pair of games against Wesleyan next weekend.
Williams has won at least a share of the last five Little
Three
titles, a streak the Jeffs will look to cut into this evening.
In the nightcap of the basketball doubleheader, the team
looking
for revenge is visiting Williams, who suffered an Amherst sweep
for the first time in 10 years last season. The Jeffs cruised
to a 90-67 win at Chandler Gymansium (their first ever in the
building) before finishing the sweep in Amherst courtesy of a
74-71 win on January 30, capturing their first outright Little
III title since 1989.
In tonight's game, the 172nd meeting between the two arch-rivals,
the host Jeffs will look for their fourth-straight home win over
Williams, and their second Little III win in four days, following
Wednesday night's impressive 84-65 win in Middletown, Conn., over
Wesleyan University.
Against the Cardinals, junior guard Erik Kelly (Staples, MN)
connected for a game-high 18 points on six of 14 shooting,
while freshman forward Steve Zieja (Hadley, MA) netted
a career-best 14 points, including a 5-6 performance from the
field, to help pace the Jeffs. Zieja also recorded a season-high
15 rebounds last Saturday against Vassar College.
For the season, Kelly, averaging 14.7 points per game, leads
an Amherst attack that has four different players averaging in
double figures. Fellow junior Brain Daoust (Dover, MA)
has developed a scoring touch from the point-guard position, averaging
just under 13 points per game, while senior Co-captains Hugh
Quattlebaum (Andover, MA) and Chris Smith (Swarthmore,
PA) have done everything for the Jeffs, combining for over
23 points, 14 rebounds and six assists per game.
Senior forward Jackson Collins (Brooklyn, NY) has only
gotten better throughout the season, including a career-high 18-point
effort against Vassar College last Saturday, and his first career
double-double on Sunday against Washington College (MD). Newcomer
Pat Fitzsimons (Durham, NC) has given the Jeffs an added
scoring touch inside, including back-to-back double-digit games
earlier this season.
Williams also sports four different players averaging in double
figures, led by junior forward Joe Weiss (Washington, DC),
who is averaging 19.8 points and just over seven rebounds per
game. Freshman phenom Tim Folan (Kensington, MD) has been
a nice surprise for the Ephs, netting 13.5 points per game, second-best
on the team, while junior Manny Benjamin (Harare, Zimbabwe),
has been a force on the boards for the visitors.
Senior Tri-captain Jim Sheehy (Syosset, NY) runs the Williams
attack, dishing out 5.4 assists per game, while junior guard Andrew
Conley (Wakefield, MA) and senior Tri-captain Sean Keenan
(Rutland, VT) have also seen quality minutes for the
Ephmen.
The Ephs have jumped out to a fast start this season, with an
80-76 loss at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA)
as the lone blemish on an otherwise perfect record, but six of
their first eight games have been in the friendly confines of
Chandler Gymnasium, where they are 6-0 this season. MCLA is the
only common opponent between the two teams so far, as the Jeffs
opened their season on November 30 with a 108-72 blowout of the
Mohawks in LeFrak.
Williams leads the all-time series against Amherst, 103-68, but
this year's senior class of Collins, Quattlebaum and Smith has
never lost to the Ephs at home.
Saturday,
January 15, 2000:
Women's Swimming &
Diving vs. Williams College, Pratt Pool, 1:00 p.m.
Men's Swimming & Diving vs. Williams, Pratt Pool, 4:00 p.m.
Women's Basketball vs. Williams, LeFrak Gymnasium, 6:00 p.m.
Men's Basketball vs. Williams, LeFrak Gymnasium, 8:00 p.m.