WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – The Skidmore College women's basketball team opened its 2025-26 season with a 73-69 win on the road at Williams on Friday evening.

• The Thoroughbreds have defeated the Ephs back-to-back years and now in four out of the last five meetings.
• Skidmore led by as many as 15 in the third quarter and held on despite the hosts closing to within three with 13 seconds remaining.
• Junior Ruby Krop hit a free throw to stretch the lead to four, and two Williams shots missed as the clock ran out.
• Sophomore Sophia Martinez scored 15 points to lead the Thoroughbreds. She also had three assists and a pair of rebounds.
• Junior Claudia Schneider scored 13 to go with eight rebounds, five steals, and two assists.
• First-year Rachel Carpenter went 4-of-5 from 3-point range off the bench to finish with 12 in her collegiate debut.
• Skidmore forced 23 Williams turnovers turning into a massive 16-4 edge in points-off-turnovers.
• Williams, however, kept it close with a 34-12 advantage in points in the paint and a 9-3 edge in second-chance points.
• Skidmore, despite a slow start from the field, had a 14-9 lead after the first quarter on the strength of a pair of 3-pointers and four free throws.
• The Ephs controlled the glass in the second period, finishing with a 15-6 margin, and shot 40 percent from the field to outscore the Thoroughbreds 20-16 and trail by just a point at the break.
• Skidmore got hot out of recess, going 11-of-16 (68.8 percent) from the field in quarter three fueled by a perfect 3-for-3 start by Carpenter from long range. Williams countered with a 63.6-percent shooting quarter of its own as a Grace Augustine 3-ball at the buzzer cut the deficit to single digits.
• The Ephs closed the gap to five by the middle of the fourth before a Carpenter bomb with 5:29 remaining brought the Skidmore lead back up to eight.
• The hosts scored the next four, but clutch jumpers from Schneider and Krop kept the Skidmore lead at seven with three minutes to go.
• A Micah Walton jumper for Williams with 1:36 left to make it 69-64 was the only made field goal for either team the rest of the way. Skidmore made 4-of-8 free throws down the stretch and it was just enough as the Ephs converted on 5-of-6 from the line over the last 30 seconds but missed each of their final five field-goal attempts.
• Walton led Williams with 22 points with nine board and three steals.
• Mairi Smith scored 14, also with nine rebounds, in the effort for the Ephs.

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Skidmore will travel to Trinity on Wednesday, Nov. 19 for a 6 p.m. tip.