POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - The Vassar College Women's Basketball dropped its second contest of The Hochberg Family Tip-Off Tournament to Hamilton, 71-60, on Saturday evening. Senior Alex Lee (Alexandria, VA) scored 16 points in the loss for the Brewers as they fall to 1-2 on the season while the Continentals improve to 2-0.

Hamilton raced out to an early 7-0 lead after buckets from Emily Hall and Emma Sehring followed by a three-pointer from Althea Hill. Vassar cut the lead to two points following a layup from freshman Naiya Kurnik (Fallbrook, CA). The Brewers cut the lead to two multiple times throughout the quarter but Hamilton took a three-point lead into the second quarter 21-18.

The Contientals knocked down three straight triples to start a 9-0 early in the second quarter as Courtney Shay buried two and Hill knocked down another which forced a Vassar timeout. The Brewers countered with six straight points of its own as Lee and freshmen Bella Tawney (Simsbury, CT) and Maddie Ahearn (Bethlehem, PA) all scored a bucket to trim the Hamilton lead down to six.

Hamilton got the lead back up to as many as nine in the period but a three-pointer from Ahearn along with two jumpers from freshman Sierra McDermed (San Antonio, TX) cut the halftime lead to five at 36-31.

Out of the halftime break, the Continentals started hot once again as they scored six straight to open the quarter on Sehring and Hall buckets along with two free throws from Taylor Lambo. A driving layup from Lee at the 2:55 mark got the Brewers within three but the Continetals closed the quarter on an 11-3 run, capped by two old fashioned three point plays from Lambo and Hall.

Hamilton pushed the lead to a game-high 17 points with 7:53 left in the contest as Sophie Thompson drilled a three-pointer on a find from Courtney Shay to take a 64-47 advantage. The Brewers went on an 11-4 run over the next six minutes to cut the lead down to 10 but Vassar was unable to cut the lead to single digits in the final minutes as Hamilton earned an 11 point victory.

Lee led the Brewers with 16 points on 7-for-13 shooting and added six rebounds and three assists. McDermed, who was named to the All-Tournament team, and Ahearn each added nine points off the bench while Tawney grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. Senior Eliza Srinivasan (Red Bank, NJ) handed out a team-high three assists.

Tournament Most Valuable Player Emma Sehring scored 16 points on 8-for-14 shooting for Hamilton as she also had a team-high nine rebounds. Hill finished with 15 points on five three-pointers while Hall added 14 points and a team-high four assists. Shay completed the four players in double figures with 10 points and two made threes.

Vassar finished the contest shooting 36.9-percent from the field while making eight three and going 4-for-8 from the free throw line. Hamilton shot a strong 51-percent from the field and also made eight threes but went 11-for-18 from the free throw stripe. The Brewers held a 18-10 edge in points off turnovers and 10-8 in second chance points.

The Brewers will return to the court on Tuesday evening as they head to Williams College for a non-conference contest. Tip-off with the Ephs is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.


ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM
Swarthmore - Alyssa Hayashi
Nazareth - Jadyn Abrams
Vassar - Sierra McDermed
Hamilton - Emily Hall
Hamilton - Emma Sehring (MVP)