AMHERST — Junior Madeline Eck surpassed 1,000 career points for second-ranked Amherst College in Friday night’s 57-38 win over No. 6 Williams College at LeFrak Gymnasium.
Eck and teammate Cam Hendricks both scored 14 points as the Mammoths improve to 20-2 overall, and 7-1 in NESCAC play.
Eck went into the game needing just 12 points to achieve the 1,000-point milestone. A little over two minutes into the second half, she scored a basket to reach 1,000.
“It’s really exciting mostly because it’s tonight against Williams, our rival,” Eck said. “I thought our team played one of the best games we’ve played all season. To get a huge win against a rival with my teammates is amazing.”
Amherst coach G.P. Gromacki, who won his 500th game in January, was happy about Maddie’s record.
“It’s great to do it at home against Williams, but really happy for her. She deserves it,” he said.
The Mammoths’ main focus and strategy against Williams was playing lockdown defense. Although Williams started off the game strong, Amherst quickly built momentum and led at the half 27-18. The Mammoths extended their lead to 45-23 entering the fourth quarter.
Williams has “quick guards and good post players so we were just taking away passing lanes, stopping drives, and playing great defense,” Gromacki said.
Amherst had nine blocked shots as it held the Ephs to under 40 points for the first time this season. Williams’ leading scorer was sophomore Gabby Martin with nine points.
The two-time defending national champions have two games left in the regular season before the conference tournament.
“The key is we need to get better,” Gromacki said. “The team that improves in the next couple weeks is the team that’s going to make a big run in the NCAA tournament and win it all so we’re not going to rest on our laurels, we’ve got to get better.”
Maeve McNamara added 13 points in the win. Hendricks had 10 boards. Meghan Sullivan, of Granby, had five of the nine blocks as well as seven rebounds.
Amherst hosts No. 5 Middlebury on Saturday at 3 p.m. in its senior game. It closes out the regular season on Tuesday against Hamilton. Both games will be played at LeFrak Gymnasium.