Bates Easily Defeats William Paterson, 77-52, in Holiday Inn/Naismith First Round
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – January 3, 2008 – Val Beckwith scored a game-high 17 points and Meg Coffin scored her 1000th career point to lead their Bates College women’s basketball team to a convincing 77-52 victory over William Paterson University this afternoon at James Naismith Court at Springfield’s Blake Arena in game #2 of the Holiday Inn/Naismith Classic.With the win, Bates raised its record to 5-3, while William Paterson fell to 7-3. This is the 13th annual Holiday Inn/Naismith Classic on the women’s side, while it is the 21st annual on the men’s side. Earlier today in game #1, Wesleyan University defeated host Springfield College, 70-55. Later today, on the men’s side, it will be Roger Williams taking on Montclair State at 5:30 pm, followed by Springfield versus Drew at 7:30 pm.
Tomorrow, in the women’s half of the Classic, Springfield will take on William Paterson in the consolation game at 1 pm, while Bates will meet Wesleyan in the championship game at 5:30 pm. The men’s consolation game will be played at 3 pm, while the men’s championship game will be played at 7:30 pm.
Beckwith led all scorers with her 17 points. A junior forward from Woburn, Mass., Beckwith added 4 steals, 2 assists, and 1 block to her totals. She was also 5-of-8 from the floor and 6-of-7 from the free throw line. Coffin was also a major player. She needed seven points to reach the coveted 1000-point plateau, and that was her exact total at the half. She scored 15 points, and added a team-high 11 rebounds. She was 6-of-11 from the floor, and did all her damage in just 24 minutes of action.
Also scoring in double figures for Bates was sophomore forward Lauren Yanofsky (Belmont, Mass.) with 12 points, 10 coming in the first half. Senior forward Matia Kostakis (Andover, Mass.) had 8 points and 7 rebounds for the Bobcats.
William Paterson had one player score in double figures. That was junior forward Asia Johnson (Wildwood, N.J.) with 16 points. She also added game-high totals of 13 rebounds and 3 blocks.
For the game, Bates shot extremely well, especially in the second half when it shot .594 from the floor (19-of-32). Overall, the Bobcats shot .508 from the field (30-of-59). William Paterson shot just .257 from the floor (19-of-74). William Paterson did cause 23 turnovers, while committing just 18.
Bates raced off to a 29-11 lead in the first 16 ½ minutes of the contest, and settled for a 32-17 lead at the half. The game was pretty much decided at that point. Bates was shooting .407 from the floor (11-of-27), while William Paterson was shooting just .212 (7-of-33). William Paterson jumped out to an 8-5 lead with 16:30 left in the first half. Then no one scored for almost five minutes. Bates then scored the next 12 points and never looked back. Bates led by as many as 29 points (75-46) with 2:29 left in the game.
As mentioned, William Paterson will meet Springfield tomorrow at 1 pm in the women’s consolation. William Paterson already owns a 67-59 victory over Springfield earlier this season. In the season-opener for both squads (Nov. 17), the Pioneers defeated the Pride on a neutral court in the first round of the DeSales Invitational in Center Valley, Pennsylvania.
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Head Coach Naomi Graves
Entering her 19th season as head coach in 2009-10, Naomi Graves has directed her squads to an impressive 266-117 record (.695 winning percentage) since joining the Division III ranks in 1995. Graves has led the Pride to eleven post-season bids in the past 14 years, including five berths in the NCAA Division III Tournament in the past nine years.
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