Women’s basketball narrowly beats Amherst
By Caroline Cornely ’26, Staff Writer
Two NESCAC powerhouses met Saturday at Margaret Bundy Scott Field
House in a must-win game for both teams. The Hamilton Continentals were 1–3 in conference play. The 22nd nationally ranked Amherst Mammoths had lost their last two games to in-conference rivals. Both came into the game with 15 wins powered by offenses averaging over 50 points a game.
The game started unfavorably for the Continentals, with the shots not seeming to fall. Amherst took a commanding lead early and only expanded it during the quarter. A lack of rebounding on both sides of the ball left Hamilton ten points behind early. The lone bright spot of the quarter was the Continentals’ control of the foul game. Hamilton’s woman-to-woman defense was ineffective and the five points the Continentals scored during the quarter came from free throws.
The second quarter started with more of the same. Hamilton’s shooting troubles continued, once again unable to do anything with the ball — not even a decent shot due to Hamilton’s ever-present traveling problem. Every possession with momentum was halted by a travel or a missed offen-
sive rebound. However, halfway through the quarter, the pieces seemed to click.
For the first time all game, the Continentals looked like they were playing against the Mammoths rather than being bystanders. This transformation started on defense, with the Continentals holding the Mammoths to multiple minutes between scoring possessions. The Mammoths scored only five points in the second quarter — a season worst. The chippiness present at the beginning of the game returned, benefiting the Continentals with more scoring opportunities. This allowed Hamilton to end the half down by only four, 15–19, a far cry from the 11-point deficit they had started the quarter with. All this with Hamilton shooting an abysmal 3–28 from the field. However, the Continentals’ defense halted all attempts by the Mammoths to increase the lead. Taylor Lambo ’26 led the team in points with nine, the majority coming from free throws.
The Continentals came out of the half with a fire in them, with two quick
baskets by Lambo and Courtney Shay ’24 leading to a frazzled Amherst needing a timeout a minute into the half. They would also lead to a tie game, 19–19, the first time the Continentals had not been losing since
the first bucket. A quick jumper by Maya Cwalina ’25 gave Amherst the lead once again. However, unlike previously, Hamilton was able to fight back with a three-point play by Lambo to give the Continentals their first lead of the night, 22–21. An Amherst rally brought their lead back and ex-
tended it to 30–25, with Hamilton’s strong defense beginning to fail as girls went unguarded. A series of back-and-forth baskets put the game at a stalemate, but a quick three by Althea Hill ’26 put life into Hamilton as they ended the quarter down 33–36.
Despite the momentum of the last quarter, it was halted by an Amherst three-pointer by Kori Barach ’25. Along with some earlier travel troubles re-emerging, the fouls finally stopped falling in Hamilton’s favor. The game seemed to slip away from the Continentals. With five minutes remaining, The Continentals were down 39–47, with defeat all but confirmed. However, a Shay three-pointer completely re-energized the team, leading to a 12-point run by the Continentals.
As Hamilton inched within one point of the Mammoths, back-to-back fouls by Amherst alongside the fouling out of Amherst’s Anna Tranum ’26 allowed Hamilton to tie it up. With 1:40 remaining in the game, Hamilton led for just the second time all night, 49–47. Sylvia Liddle ’26 made a quick shot to put the score within two before an unsuccessful strategy of fouls and prayers failed for Amherst. Emily Hall ’24 made two more free throws to end any comeback chances for Amherst.
The 53–49 Hamilton victory was one of the lowest-scoring games for either
team this season, but no other game was more hard-fought. Leaders for the Continentals included a scoring duo of Lambo and Hall with 19 and 18 points respectively. Barach led Amherst with 19 points. Free throws defined the game: Hamilton made 19 of 30 while Amherst made just
three of five. The vast edge in free throws paired with strong defense following the first quarter is what led Hamilton to victory. Women’s basketball plays on Friday, Jan. 26 at home against Trinity at 7 p.m.
