Two weeks to the day since Amherst's 71-59 regular-season win over Colby, the Jeffs looked to have things well in hand early in Saturday's playoff contest, opening the game on a 17-4 run. Shannon Russell '04, who scored a career-high 28 points in the first matchup against Colby, scored seven points during the run, and Co-captain Charlotte Taylor '01 added five points to give the Jeffs the early cushion.
Colby regrouped, however, and would control the tempo for most of the rest of the half. After the Jeffs took a 20-9 lead on a Hallison Putnam '02 jumper at the 11:58 mark, the Mules rolled off nine straight points, including three free throws from sophomore Carli Parisella, to close to within two with 7:24 left before the half. A brief Amherst spurt, fueled by a pair of baskets from Marissa McGuire '04, opened up a 28-21 lead just inside the three-minute mark, before Colby scored the last eight points of the period, six of which came from the charity stripe, to take a 29-28 lead into the intermission.
The Mules, who hit on 14 of 16 free-throw attempts in the first half, would also do much of their damage from the charity stripe after halftime. "I think that we just weren't very disciplined in the second half," said Taylor. "We gave up far too many free throws in both halves."
An early charity toss from Cochrane gave Colby a 32-31 lead, before a Putnam three-pointer put the Jeffs back ahead, 34-32, at the 16:24 mark. That lead, however, would be the last the Jeffs would enjoy, as the Mules again rallied off eight straight points, using stellar ball movement to score four quick inside buckets. A three-point-play from Amherst forward Brooke Diamond '03 cut the White Mule lead to three, 40-37, at the 12:30 mark, and Amherst would come to within two points of the visitors after a Russell jumper just before the 8:00 mark. Colby responded, however, breaking the game open with a 13-2 run over the next three minutes, including a pair of baskets by Cochrane and a three-pointer from sophomore Jasmine Ashe.
The Jeffs were never able to cut further into the Colby lead than nine points after Ashe's three-pointer, and the Mules connected on 12 of their next 13 free-throw attempts, including six from Parisella, to ice the 80-64 final.
All told, Colby scored 15 of their last 17 points from the charity stripe, finishing with a season-high 34 free throws in 40 attempts. Parisella, who entered the game shooting only 47 percent from the line all season, connected on 11 of her 12 attempts en route to 13 points, while Lawson connected on 10 of her 12 free-throw attempts for 10 of her team-high 18 points.
Colby sophomore Sarah Walsh, who had a 21-point, 20-rebound afternoon in the first meeting with Amherst, turned in a solid 12-point, nine-rebound, four-steal game for Colby, and Cochrane also finished in double figures with 11 points.
The difference came in the second half, where the Mules reversed a seven-for-27 (25.9 percent) shooting performance in the first half, connecting on 15 of their 24 (62.5 percent) second-half attempts en route to 51 points in the final 20 minutes of the game.
The Jeffs, who didn't help themselves from the charity stripe-finishing 15-for-25 for the game-were paced by a game-high 23 points from Russell, including three three-pointers. Taylor, in what would prove to be the final game of her career, was the other Amherst player in double figures with 11 points, and forward Sarah Walker '03 turned in a six-point, 11-rebound, three-block afternoon before fouling out late in the contest.
The loss came three days after the Jeff's most dominating offensive performance of the season, an 84-48 pasting of Framingham State College in the ECAC quarterfinals. Against the Rams, the Jeffs received contributions from everyone, with all 12 players scoring, the first time all season that the team accomplished such a feat.
"After our loss to Bowdoin [in the championship game of the NESCAC Tournament] on Saturday, I think that we were all eager to play like our normal selves," said Taylor. "Nothing went right against Bowdoin, and I think we wanted to play well together again."
Diamond, who pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds in only 11 minutes of action, anchored Amherst's dominating 57-41 edge on the glass against Framingham, while Russell, Putnam and Taylor all finished in double figures, scoring 15, 14 and 10 points, respectively.
The semifinal finish in the ECAC Tournament brought the most successful season in school history to a close, as the Jeffs recorded a school-record-shattering 23 wins en route to their final 23-5 record. Point guard Sara Bozorg '03 joined Russell and Walker as all-conference selections. The squad combined to break 12 team and 14 individual school records during the 2000-2001 campaign.
Though the season's end was far from perfect, the results were still incredible. The women's team, only losing one senior, has a bright future ahead of it. Built around a core of freshmen and sophomores, the Jeffs will only look to improve on their record-breaking 2000-01 season.