NORTHAMPTON — The Smith College basketball team has its eyes set on a fifth consecutive NEWMAC tournament championship, and the Pioneers started their quest off on the right foot on Wednesday night at Ainsworth Gymnasium. Smith, the top seed in the NEWMAC following an unblemished 11-0 conference record, used 21 points and 11 rebounds from Ella Sylvester to get past a pesky No. 8 Coast Guard team, 70-62, in the quarterfinals.

That sets the Pioneers up for a date in the semifinals with No. 5 Salve Regina on Friday night back in their home gym. Salve defeated No. 4 Emerson 93-87 in its quarterfinal matchup on Wednesday.

Outside of Smith taking care of business, no other home team in the NEWMAC won in the first round. Second-seeded Babson lost to No. 7 WPI, 60-54, while No. 3 Springfield fell 70-65 at the hands of No. 6 MIT. Smith was the lone school to avoid an upset.

Aside from Sylvester’s dominant showing, Jane Loo tossed in 16 points including 2-f0r-3 shooting from behind the arc, reigning NEWMAC Rookie of the Year Hannah Martin posted a double-double (10 points, 11 rebounds) while Jazmyn Washington (eight) and Ally Landau (seven) combined for 15 points to all help the Pioneers past Coast Guard. Uta Nakamura and Maggie Fleming each scored four points off the bench as well.

Smith took a 36-23 lead into halftime before Coast Guard began to chip away. The Bears outscored the hosts 16-15 in the third and 23-19 in the fourth, but when they tried to play the foul game late, the Pioneers converted on their free throws. They shot 10-for-12 on the night, and also out-rebounded Coast Guard 41-31 on the glass.

After Sylvester banked home a layup 19 seconds into the game, the Pioneers never trailed throughout.

Looking ahead to Smith’s semifinal contest, on paper the Pioneers are certainly the overwhelming favorite. Smith blew Salve Regina out by a whopping 50 points (88-38) in the two teams’ first and only meeting back on Feb. 1. But head coach Lynn Hersey will assuredly have that score erased from her team’s memory bank come tip off on Friday.

Coast Guard hung tough with Smith after losing 89-60 in the regular season, so anything can happen come playoff time. In that game, four players (Landau, Loo, Sylvester, Nakamura) scored at least 13 points, and the Pioneers shot 56 percent from the field – including 77 percent in the first quarter.

Tip off is slated for 7 p.m. as Smith looks to advance to yet another NEWMAC championship, which would be Sunday afternoon at Ainsworth should the Pioneers win on Friday. Smith won the 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024 NEWMAC titles. There was no tournament in 2021.