{"id":27294,"date":"2026-03-05T10:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T15:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/?post_type=story&#038;p=27294"},"modified":"2026-03-06T10:06:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T15:06:30","slug":"cougars-reach-first-newmac-womens-basketball-final-in-20-years","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2026\/03\/05\/cougars-reach-first-newmac-womens-basketball-final-in-20-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Cougars reach first NEWMAC women\u2019s basketball final in 20 years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-default\">The Clark women\u2019s basketball team powered its way to the NEWMAC finals for the first time since 2005 before falling to Smith College, 72\u201365. It was Clark\u2019s first appearance in the conference title game since 2005. Coach Bridgette Reyes\u2019 squad finished the season with a 19\u20139 record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized\" style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--10);margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--10)\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Womens-Basketball-6.avif\u201d\" alt=\"\u201cA Clark Women's Basketball player takes a shot during the 2026 NEWMAC championship game\" style=\"object-fit:cover\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The Cougars reached the NEWMAC Tournament for the 18th time and won their first tournament game since 2017 with a decisive victory over WPI in the quarterfinals, earning their eighth semifinal appearance in program history. Clark advanced to the final with a 68\u201351 victory against Babson. Against&nbsp;No. 1-ranked Smith (27\u20131), Clark led going into the fourth quarter, but the Bears rallied for the victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the loss, Clark players put forth a tremendous effort. Among the impressive numbers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Clark made 22 shots, hit 10 three-pointers, grabbed 26 rebounds, dished out seven assists, and forced 18 turnovers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Atiya Watson \u201929 netted a career-high 24 points with seven made shots, connected on seven free throws, and hit three triples.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Kailey Rios \u201927 added 11 points, made three three-pointers, and tallied three steals.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Emma Drefs \u201927 also reached double-figures with 10 points and a pair of threes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The men\u2019s team (12\u201313) also earned a berth in the NEWMAC tournament before losing a hard-fought quarterfinal battle to Salve Regina, 67\u201361.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:13px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Womens-Basketball-5-1024x682.avif\" alt=\"Clark Women's Basketball in the 2026 NEWMAC championship game\" class=\"wp-image-27300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Womens-Basketball-5-1024x682.avif 1024w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Womens-Basketball-5-300x200.avif 300w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Womens-Basketball-5-768x512.avif 768w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Womens-Basketball-5-1200x800.avif 1200w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Womens-Basketball-5.avif 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Womens-Basketball-1-1024x683.avif\" alt=\"Clark Women's Basketball in the 2026 NEWMAC championship game\" class=\"wp-image-27296\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Womens-Basketball-1-1024x683.avif 1024w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Womens-Basketball-1-300x200.avif 300w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Womens-Basketball-1-768x512.avif 768w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Womens-Basketball-1-1200x800.avif 1200w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Womens-Basketball-1.avif 1350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignfull size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"788\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Womens-Basketball-3-1024x788.avif\" alt=\"Clark Women's Basketball players cheer on the team in the 2026 NEWMAC championship game\" class=\"wp-image-27298\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Womens-Basketball-3-1024x788.avif 1024w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Womens-Basketball-3-300x231.avif 300w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Womens-Basketball-3-768x591.avif 768w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Womens-Basketball-3.avif 1108w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Clark women\u2019s basketball team powered its way to the NEWMAC finals for the first time since 2005 before falling to Smith College, 72\u201365. Coach Bridgette Reyes\u2019 squad finished the season with a 19\u20139 record.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":27297,"template":"","meta":{"story_color":"var(--clarku-color-deep-red)","story_headerImg":27297,"section_label":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[],"displayed_author":[498],"featured":[494],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-27294","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","displayed_author-clark-news-staff","featured-secondary"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Cougars reach first NEWMAC women\u2019s basketball final in 20 years | ClarkU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2026\/03\/05\/cougars-reach-first-newmac-womens-basketball-final-in-20-years\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cougars reach first NEWMAC women\u2019s basketball final in 20 years\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Clark women\u2019s basketball team powered its way to the NEWMAC finals for the first time since 2005 before falling to Smith College, 72\u201365. 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