Women's Basketball at Springfield
NEWMAC Tournament Semifinal
Friday, February 23 | 7 p.m.
Blake Arena | Springfield, Mass.

SERIES HISTORY
•    Babson is 34-16 all-time against Springfield in a series that dates back to 1993. 
•    Despite dropping the last three matchups, the Beavers have won 11 of their last 16 games against the Pride since 2016.
•    Seven of the last eight games in the series have been won by the home team, a run that includes three straight Springfield victories over the Green and White inside Blake Arena. 

POSTSEASON HISTORY
•    Babson and Springfield will meet in the conference semifinals for the second time in three seasons on Friday. 
•    The Beavers are 6-2 all-time in the postseason versus the Pride and have won the last six meetings between the programs going back to 2007.
•    Five of Babson's six wins have come in the NEWMAC semifinals, which includes a 70-53 victory in 2022 in Babson Park and a 64-57 triumph over the Pride back in 2015 in Springfield. 

LAST MEETING
•    Rachel Vinton scored 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting and Angela Czeremcha added 15 points and 14 rebounds to help Springfield defeat the Beavers, 65-53, on February 10 in Babson Park. 
•    Jaelen Daubon scored 11 points and Amanda Leary chipped in with 10 points, five rebounds and four assists for the Pride, which shot 52.9 percent and led by as many as 21 midway through the second quarter. 
•    Junior Katelyn Mollica scored nine points and classmate Camilla Silk added eight points and seven rebounds for the Beavers, who were just 4-of-21 (19 percent) from three-point range in the loss. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Fifth-seeded Babson (14-12) has won three consecutive games after defeating fourth-seeded Coast Guard, 65-49, in a quarterfinal on Tuesday night. 
•    Silk finished with 15 points and nine rebounds, senior Kelly Walsh scored 12 points and junior Emily Flynn came off the bench to score 10 points for the Beavers, who closed the game with a 26-8 run. 
•    Walsh (16.5 pts, 4.1 reb, 3.7 ast, 2.1 stl) has scored in double figures in nine of 11 games this winter, Mollica (12.8 pts, 2.8 reb) is fifth in the league with 63 three-pointers and first-year Samantha Reale (9.0 pts, 3.7 reb, 1.8 stl) has scored in double figures seven times in 13 games against league foes. 
•    The Green and White ranks second in the league in field goal defense (35.2 percent) third in scoring defense allowing 56.1 points and fourth in rebounding margin (+3.8).

SCOUTING THE PRIDE
•    Top-seeded Springfield (22-4) has won 10 consecutive games after routing eight-seeded Salve Regina 89-43 in Tuesday's quarterfinals. 
•    Claire Finney led six players in double figures with 21 points and 8-of-12 shooting, Czeremcha posted a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds and Daubon chipped in with 12 points for the Pride, which shot 66 percent on two-point field goal attempts and scored 50 points in the paint. 
•    Czeremcha (13.5 pts, 11.5 reb) leads the conference in rebounding and has recorded 14 double-doubles, Vinton (12.0 pts, 4.8 reb, 3.9 ast, 2.8 stl) ranks in the top five in the NEWMAC in both assists and steals and Leary (10.3 pts, 4.1 reb, 2.2 ast) has scored in double figures in six of the last seven contests. 
•    Springfield ranks second in the league in scoring defense (55.3 points) and rebounding margin (+8.8) and is third in field goal percentage (42.2). 

POSTSEASON PEDIGREE
•    Babson enters the 2024 NEWMAC Tournament coming off back-to-back championship game appearances in 2022 and 2023. 
•    The Beavers have captured 10 NEW 8/NEWMAC Tournament championships going back to 1991 (1991, 1993, 1999, 2009-13, 2015, 2017) and are making their 15th straight appearances in the conference semifinals dating back to 2009.
•    The Green and White also has won its last seven NEWMAC quarterfinal matchups since 2009 and is 23-5 all-time in the quarterfinal round going back to the formation of the NEW 6 Conference in 1986. 
•    On the flip side, Coast Guard is seeking its first conference tournament win since 2016 when it defeated Wheaton, 68-61, in the quarterfinals.

SHARING THE ROCK
•    Walsh, Reale, Silk, junior Kiara Simone Davis and sophomore Allessia Carlo all dished out two assists in Tuesday's win at Coast Guard as the Beavers finished with 13 dimes on 22 made field goals. 
•    The Green and White has finished with at least 11 assists as a team in 10 consecutive games and is assisting on 59.3 percent of its made shots during this run. 

WALSH MAKES HER RETURN
•    After missing 15 consecutive games due to injury, Walsh made her first appearance since December 5 at Clark producing seven points on 3-of-6 shooting to go along with two rebounds and one steal in 18 minutes off the bench. 
•    Walsh, who became the 19th player in program history to surpass 1,000 points at Framingham State back in December, ranks fifth on Babson's career list with 95 three-pointers and is 10th averaging 1.94 steals in 77 career games. 
•    Walsh has reached double figures in scoring in 19 of her last 21 games going back to February 11 of last season. 

WINNING FORMULA
•    Since starting 0-2 in league play, Babson has won eight of its last 10 games by limiting its foes to just 54.9 points per game on 36.3 percent shooting.
•    The Green and White has allowed just 0.81 points per possession while outscoring its opponents by 0.17 points per trip to go along with a +5.4 rebounding margin. 
•    On the offensive end, the Beavers are shooting 41.5 percent, have turned the ball over on just 21 percent of its possessions and have made just four fewer free throws (119) than its opponents have attempted (123). They also have gotten an average of 25.2 points per game off the bench over the last 10 contests. 

TOURNAMENT TESTED
•    Walsh, Silk, seniors Rachel McMenemy and Madison Odam and junior Abby Miller have each played in 12 postseason games over the last two seasons entering this year's tournament. 
•    Walsh is averaging 14.6 points 44.4 percent shooting to go along with 3.8 rebounds and 2.1 steals, Odam is averaging 5.8 points and 5.6 rebounds, McMenemy (5.0 pts, 4.0 reb) is shooting 52.6 percent, and Silk has contributed 3.8 points and 4.0 boards while shooting 54.5 percent. 
•    Mollica averaged 6.4 points in seven NEWMAC and NCAA Tournament games last winter, while Davis made five starts in the postseason as a first-year in 2022. 

BEAVER BITES
•    Silk is averaging 12.2 points on 54.3 percent shooting and 8.2 rebounds over her last five outings.
•    Mollica, who is the first player in program history to make at least 60 three-point field goals in a season, has knocked down at least one triple in 10 straight games and 24 of 26 outings on the year.
•    Reale, who set a new career high with five pilfers at Clark, has two or more steals in seven consecutive outings. 
•    Flynn, who reached double figures in scoring for the fourth time this winter on Tuesday at Coast Guard, has knocked down at least two three-pointers five times against conference foes and the Beavers are unbeaten in those games.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    The Beavers are 12-2 when ahead after the first quarter and 10-0 when leading at halftime this season.
•    Babson is 13-3 this winter when outrebounding its opponents.
•    The Green and White is 12-2 this year when holding its foes below 60 points. 
•    The Beavers are 10-3 on the year when shooting at least 40 percent from the field. 
•    Babson is 9-0 this season and has won 16 straight games dating back to last February when scoring at least 65 points. 
•    The Beavers are 10-2 this winter when outscoring its foes at the free throw line.

UP NEXT
•    The winner of Friday's contest will take on either second-seeded Smith or third-seeded MIT in Sunday's NEWMAC final.