NORTHAMPTON, Mass. -- Led by graduate student Briana Neary with 14 points and six rebounds the No. 5 seed Salve Regina University Women's Basketball team fell to the No. 1 seed Smith College in the Semifinal round of the 2025 NEWMAC tournament at the Ainsworth Gymnasium.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Final: Smith 96, Salve Regina 54
Records: Salve Regina (15-11,7-4 NEWMAC), Smith (25-2,11-0 NEWMAC)
History: Going into today's matchup Smith lead Salve Regina 5-0 in all-time meeting wins. The last time the two NEWMAC foes met on February 1, Smith acquired an 88-38 victory. Before the tip off Smith's 24-2 record resulted from a 63-60 loss to UMass Dartmouth early in the season and a 60-50 downfall to Tufts University in early February. Seahawks' Briana Neary led the Seahawks in the most recent Seahawk versus Pioneer matchup with 11 points and six rebounds.

SUMMARY

• 1Q | Briana Neary scored the first points of the game with a jumpshot from in the paint to put the Seahawks up with an early 2-0. Smith's Hannah Martin matched the Seahawks and the Poneers eventually took a 6-5 lead with a layup from Ally Landau. | PIONEERS 19, SEAHAWKS 7
• 2Q | Olivia Martin checked in for the Seahawks in the second quarter and saw her first points of the day with a made three pointer three minutes into the action. Smith went 10-17 for a 58.8 field goal percentage, extending their lead to 24 points. | PIONEERS 47, SEAHAWKS 23
• 3Q | The Seahawks largest scoring run occred between the 27-34 point mark in the third quarter. Hope Halverson started it off with a three pointer from a pass by Briana Neary. Amanda Folan made two free throws ending the burst. | PIONEERS 66, SEAHAWKS 40
• 4Q | Smith went 4-8 at the line in the final quarter and made 12-17 field goals. The Pioneers saw 51 points from their bench across 60 minutes. Salve Regin fought to the end with a layup from Hope Halverson with three seconds remaining in the game. | PIONEERS 96, SEAHAWKS 54

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THOUGHTS FROM COACH HUGHES

"I'm proud of their [seniors and graduates] growth, especially in their last season but just overall. When I was talking to them after the game I got so emotional that I had to stop because I'm just so proud of them and I'm going to miss them.

That Smith team is a tremendous team. The things that we needed to do-- they just didn't let us do them. It's not from a lack of effort or anything like that. There were keys that we talked about, one of them was second chance opportunities. They did a great job keeping us off the glass and forcing us to turn the ball over. One of the things we needed to do was value the basketball and they forced us to tun it over. It wasn't simply poor passes. A lot of the things that happened, we certainly have blame for the outcome, but it's more to the fact that Smith just played tremendously and forced us to do a lot of the things we didn't want to do.

This team is close and we're loosing a lot but we have a lot returning. We've certainly got lots of experience but also a lot of talent, ability and potential. We're going to be very different next year. It's not necessarily a bad thing, it will just be different."

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NOTEWORTHY

• Salve Regina saw ten points from turnovers and 15 points from the bench throughout the contest. 
• The third period was Salve Regina's most successful in terms of field goals, when the team went 6-16 or 37.5%.
• Going 10-13, the Seahawks ended the day with a 76.9 free throw percentage.
• Amanda Folan saw the most time on the court with 38 total minutes of play. Folan went 5-6 at the line.

ON THE HORIZON
Salve Regina ends their run in the postseason tournament and the season with today's loss to Smith. The Pioneers will host Massachusetts Institute of Technology at 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 2.