THE BASICS

-Score: Smith College 68, Clark University 41

-Records: Clark (10-15, NEWMAC 4-12), Smith (20-5, NEWMAC 13-3)

-Location: Northampton, Mass.

-The Lead: The Smith College basketball team claimed a share of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) regular season title with their 68-41 win over Clark University Saturday afternoon at Ainsworth Gymnasium.

HOW IT HAPPENED

-Both teams struggled to get into any kind of rhythm as the score stood at 2-2 3:54 into the game. Smith's offense finally got going as the Pioneers went on a 7-0 run to take a 9-2 lead with 4:00 remaining in the quarter. A three-pointer from Clark's Haley Wilder (Rindge, N.H.) and free throw from freshman Sahra Nur (Cambridge, Mass.) cut the lead to 9-6 but Elle Jo Whalen (Woodinville, Wash.) drained two free throws with under a minute remaining to make the score 11-6 going into the second quarter.

-Clark opened the second stanza with back-to-back jumpers by junior Ogechi Ezemma (Hope Valley, R.I.) to come to within one point (11-10) at the 8:29 mark. Leading 25-19, the Pioneers closed out the quarter on a three-point play from Kennedy Guest-Pritchett (Fairburn, Ga.) and a jumper from Paige Marquez (San Francisco, Calif.) to head into the break with their largest lead of the game, 30-19. 

-Marquez opened the third quarter with a three-pointer and Smith would go on to build a 24 point lead on Lauren Bondi's (Burnaby, BC, Can.) trey with 4:39 remaining in the quarter. Clark was able to get the lead down to 19 (47-28) but the Pioneers would end the quarter leading 52-31.

-Smith outscored the Cougars 16-10 in the final period and eased to the 68-41 victory.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

-Ezemma posted 16 points, five rebounds, and three blocks.

-Wilder added nine points and seven rebounds.

-Field Goals: SMI  27-75 / CLK 14-44

-3-Point FG: SMI  10-26 / CLK 4-17

-Free Throw: SMI 4-5 / CLK 9-16

-Points off Turnovers: SMI 24 / CLK 7