NORTHAMPTON, Mass.—Junior Ally Yamada (Seal Beach, Calif.) led three players in double figures with 16 points and No. 4 D3hoops.com/No. 5 WBCA Smith College closed the game with a 14-2 run on the way to defeating No. 12 D3hoops.com/No. 11 WBCA Babson College, 67-52, in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament final on Saturday afternoon inside Ainsworth Gymnasium.

Babson, which was playing in its second consecutive conference final, is now 23-5 after suffering just its second loss in the month of February. Smith won its 20th straight game to improve to 26-1 on the year while capturing its third consecutive NEWMAC Tournament championship. Both teams will find out where they are headed for the opening round of the NCAA Tournament when the pairings are unveiled at 1:30 p.m. on Monday.

Junior Kelly Walsh (Goffstown, N.H.) scored a season-high 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting and added six rebounds and four steals to lead the Beavers. Senior Samantha Smith (Greenfield, Mass.) finished with 12 points and classmate Megan Bauman (East Lyme, Conn.) dished out a game-high six assists to go along with seven points and three boards.

Graduate student Katelyn Pickunka (Westhampton, Mass.) had 15 points, seven rebounds, four steals and three assists, while senior Morgan Morrison (Detroit, Mich.) shook off first-half foul trouble to record her 22nd double-double with 14 points and 10 boards. Junior Jessie Ruffner (Rocklin, Calif.) chipped in with nine points, 10 rebounds and six assists in the victory.

Smith led by as many as six in the opening quarter before the Green and white got within 17-16 in the closing seconds of the frame after a three-pointer by sophomore Katelyn Mollica (Foxborough, Mass.) and a free throw by sophomore Camilla Silk (Medfield, Mass.). Yamada and Pickunka combined for nine points during an 11-2 run that saw the hosts extend its advantage to 28-18 midway through the second, but the Beavers responded by outscoring the Pioneers 13-4 over the final 2:29 of the stanza to get within one at the break.

Walsh sandwiched a pair of three-pointers around a layup by junior Rachel McMenemy (Northborough, Mass.) and Bauman scored the final five points of the quarter, which included a three-point play with 1.3 seconds remaining to make it 36-35 at the break.

Babson took its first lead of the game on a layup by Smith on the opening possession of the third and six straight points by Walsh gave the visitors a 43-41 edge with 7:06 to go in the period. Smith answered with an 11-0 run over the next four-plus minutes to go back in front by nine on a bucket by Morrison with 2:40 left in the quarter.

Smith canned two free throws late in the third and followed up a runner by Mollica with another hoop inside to bring Babson within 53-50 just over a minute into the fourth. Unfortunately, it would get no closer as Morrison scored back-to-back hoops and Yamada drilled her third triple of the game to stretch the margin to 60-50 with 6:13 remaining.

The Green and White got five consecutive stops but were unable to cut into the deficit and were down 15 when Bauman scored to end a drought of nearly eight minutes with 1:01 to play.

The Beavers, who shot 55.7 percent in the first half, finished the game at 40.4 percent and were outrebounded 36-21. The Pioneers shot 48.1 percent for the game and outscored the visitors 13-7 at the free throw line and 10-5 on second-chance points.

Both Babson and Smith will open NCAA Tournament play on Friday.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are 40-16 all-time against Smith but have dropped four straight games in the series. The teams have also split four NEWMAC title game matchups.
• Babson grabbed a season-low four offensive rebounds in Sunday's loss and its 21 total rebounds are its fewest since finishing with 19 in last year's NEWMAC final at Smith.
• In three NEWMAC Tournament games this week, Walsh averaged 18.3 points on 55.3 percent shooting to go along with 5.3 rebounds and 4.3 steals.
• The Beavers are 8-3 all-time in 11 NEWMAC Tournament championship game appearances dating back to 1999.