Box Score

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (February 19, 2010) – In a must-win game for both sides, the Vassar College women's basketball saw its postseason hopes disappear while Hamilton College grabbed the fourth and final Liberty League playoff spot with a 58-52 win at the Athletics & Fitness Center on Friday. While the Brewers needed to win both their games this weekend, they also needed the Continentals to lose both of theirs, and neither scenario worked out for Vassar on Friday.

The Brewers fall to 9-14, 5-8 but still have a chance to finish the season with a program best six league wins when they host William Smith College in the final game of the season on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. Vassar will honor its sole senior Emily Haeuser for Senior Day. The Continentals improve to 15-8, 8-5 and will play at Renssealer Polytechnic Institute tomorrow at 2:00 p.m.

Trailing for the entire game, the Brewers found themselves down 12, 54-42 with just 6:57 to play. Vassar did not fold, however, as sophomore Brittany Parks gave her team momentum, muscling in a layup while drawing a foul and sinking the ensuing free throw to cut the lead to single digits, 45-54. Although junior Reisa Asimovic answered with a basket on the other end, Parks sliced through the lane for a layup to again cut the Hamilton lead to nine and freshman Anielle Fredman brought the Brewers to within six, 56-50 with 2:27 to play, as she drained her first career three-pointer.

Senior Cate Shafer hit a jumper on the other end to give Hamilton an eight point lead, but on the ensuing Vassar possession freshman Olivia Westbrook-Gold drew a foul after pulling down an offensive rebound and sank both ends of the 1-and-1, to cut the Hamilton lead to 58-52 with 1:36 remaining. Although the Brewers prevented the Continentals from scoring in the final 96 seconds, as Hamilton went 0-2 from the line and turned the ball over twice, Vassar was unable to generate any offense of its own, and the score remained 58-52 when the final buzzer sounded.

Hamilton took a 37-27 lead into halftime after shooting 16-for-30 (53.5 percent) from the floor and slowing down Vassar's offense with a three-quarter court press, forcing the Brewers to go deep into the shot clock and take difficult shots. The Continentals opened up scoring as Asimovic converted an old-fashioned three-point play, just as importantly drawing the foul from Vassar's leading scorer, Haeuser, who played just eight minutes in the first half after quickly being saddled with two fouls.

The Continentals steadily added to their lead throughout the half as the speedy guard Asimovic and freshman forward Eliza Howe created a dangerous inside-outside threat, with Asimovic recording 11 first half points and Howe adding ten. The Brewers did manage to chop a 15-point deficit with 2:10 left to play in the half, into 10 points going into halftime, as Haeuser returned to the game and hit two jumpers while Parks added a jump shot and free throw of her own for a 7-2 run to conclude the half.

Parks and Haeuser paced Vassar with 15 points apiece, Parks adding three steals and Haeuser grabbing six rebounds. Sophomore forward Kristyn Tempora added 11 points and six rebounds while Westbrook-Gold – in just her second career start – chipped in with seven points and three assists.

Asimovic led the Continentals with 18 points, four rebounds, and four assists to just one turnover. Howe added 12 points and three steals, while Shafer contributed eight points and five rebounds, and freshman Madie Harlem filled up the stat sheet with a game-high eight rebounds, four assists, three steals, and six points. The Continentals shot 25-for-50 (50 percent) from the field, while the Brewers were 19-for-47 (40.4 percent).