Vassar Women Win Third Straight Against Gordon

By Steven Merritt

WENHAM, M.A. – The Vassar College Women’s Basketball team took the floor for the final time in 2022 as the Brewers defeated Gordon College 62-49 on the road on Friday afternoon. Sophomore Julia Harvey led the Brewers with 12 points in the contest for its third straight victory as VC improved to 5-5 overall on the season while the Fighting Scots dropped to 3-7.

Vassar opened up the first quarter on a 15-4 run as senior Alex Lee knocked down two triples while freshman Bella Tawney added four points in the opening five minutes. Harvey hit a three-pointer during the run along with a jumper from classmate Tova Gelb. Gordon’s Ami Rivera hit a jumper along with a three-pointer from Naomi Nicholson to cut the Brewers lead to six with just under four minutes left. Following two free throws from Lee at the 4:00 mark to make it 17-9, the Fighting Scots scored the final four points of the quarter to trim the lead to 17-13.

Harvey opened up the scoring in the second quarter for Vassar with a layup at the 8:25 mark before Gordon’s Madison Wynbeek tallied back-to-back buckets with six minutes left to take the Brewers lead down to two. VC went on a 7-3 run over the next four and a half minutes as Harvey recorded five points along with a jumper from freshman Caroline Siekman to move the Brewers ahead 27-20. The Fighting Scots closed the half with eight straight points with Wynbeek converting six of them while Rivera added a jumper to give Gordon a one-point lead heading into the halftime break.

The Brewers scored the first six points of the second half as Gelb, Tawney and Harvey all converted layups to regain a five point lead. The Fighting Scots cut the lead to three on a layup from Serianna Anderson with 6:25 left in the third quarter before two buckets from Tawney and a triple from senior Eliza Srinivasan pushed the Brewers lead up to eight with just under four minutes remaining. Freshman Maddie Ahearn’s three-pointer got Vassar to a nine-point advantage with a minute remaining before Gordon cut the lead to seven after three quarters of play.

The Fighting Scots scored five straight in the fourth quarter on a triple from Anderson and a layup from Rivera with 5:56 remaining in the contest. A three-pointer from Srinivasan ended the run at the 4:34 mark for the Brewers before a bucket from Wynbeek cut the lead down to three in the final four minutes of regulation. Gelb responded with a layup and a three-pointer in back-to-back possessions for Vassar in the final two minutes to push the lead to eight before VC knocked down seven free throws in the final minute to earn a 13 point victory.

Harvey led the way with 12 points on 4-for-7 shooting from the field while Lee added 11 points, four assists and three steals for Vassar. Tawney chipped in 10 points along with five boards as Gelb completed a strong day with nine points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals. Srinivasan tallied nine points, four assists, two steals and three rebounds for the Brewers.

Wynbeek recorded a double-double for Gordon as she has a team-high 15 points and 11 rebounds on 7-for-10 shooting while adding three assists and two steals. Rivera also scored 15 points in addition to four steals and two assists and two rebounds for the Fighting Scots.
VC finished the contest shooting 38.2-percent from the field and connected on eight three-pointers while Gordon shot 33.3-percent and made three three-pointers. The Brewers converted 12-for-16 from the free throw line and converted 15 points off turnovers. The Fighting Scots held a 26-22 edge in points in the paint while each team scored nine second chance points.

The Brewers will return to action in conference play on Friday, January 6th when they head north to take on Clarkson. Tip-off with the Golden Knights is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in Potsdam.