
The Middlebury women's basketball team got back on track with a 73-60 road win at Smith (10-5) on Tuesday night. The 14-2 Panthers return to action on Saturday with a 2:00 p.m. NESCAC contest against Williams.
Middlebury jumped out to a 14-2 lead, before Smith cut it to eight points at 17-9 by quarter's end.
The advantage grew to a dozen (25-13) on a three from Betsy Knox at the 8:18 mark of the second quarter. The Pioneers trimmed it to eight (33-25) before another from long range by Emily Wander put the visitors ahead 36-25 at the break.
Middlebury slowly increased its lead in the third quarter, going up by as many as 16 (47-31) on a shot from behind the arc by Colleen Caveney.
Trailing 53-40 after three quarters, Smith went on a 6-0 spurt in the fourth to cut the Panther lead to 55-48 with 7:52 remaining. Middlebury made 12-14 free throws down the stretch to seal the 73-60 victory.
Knox paced the Panthers with 20 points, Catherine Harrison added 17 with 14 rebounds, while Alex Huffman scored 10 points and pulled down nine rebounds. Wander added a career-high 15 points off the bench.
Lauren Bondi had 19 points, seven assists and five steals for Smith, while Kennedy Guest-Pritchett also scored 19 points to go along with 12 boards.
Middlebury converted on 9-17 (.529) attempts from behind the arc in the win.