AMHERST, Mass. – The third-ranked Amherst College women's basketball team used a well-balanced attack Friday night to defeat Hamilton College in the opening night of NESCAC play by a score of 68-44.

With the win, the Jeffs improved to 12-0 overall and 1-0 in league play while extending their consecutive home winning streak to 105 games. The Continentals drop to 8-5 on the year and 0-1 in the NESCAC.

For the third game in a row, senior co-captain Megan Robertson surpassed a milestone. The forward from Tewksbury, Mass. pulled in four boards to become just the fifth player in program history to record 700 rebounds. She now has 703 in her career. With her latest achievement, Robertson has become just the second Amherst women's basketball ever to score at least 1,000 points, secure 700 rebounds, and reject 150 shots. The only other player to do so was Sarah Walker '03.

Leading the Jeffs in scoring Friday night was Ali Doswell '17 with a game-high 12 points. She finished with a perfect 4-of-4 shooting from the free throw line and dished out three assists. Marley Giddins '16 and Hannah Hackley '18 each scored 10 as they went 4-of-7 and 3-of-5 from the floor, respectively. Giddins and Hannah Peterson '17 also pulled in a team-high five rebounds.

Hamilton was led by Theresa Salud and Samantha Srinivasan with 11 points apiece, while Salud went 3-of-5 from downtown. Sam Graber added six points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.

Amherst jumped out to another hot start as Doswell hit one from behind-the-arc within the first 14 seconds of play. The Jeffs extended that lead to 8-0 after another three-pointer, this time from Hannah Peterson '17 minutes later. Hamilton was held scoreless for the first 4:53 of the game until Lauren Getman cut the deficit to five with a trey of her own.

At the 11:09 mark of the first half, a lay-up by Jackie Nagle '18 gave the home team a 10-point lead as they went ahead, 16-6. However, the Continentals responded shortly after and went on a 12-3 run in just under five minutes of play. Following a lay-up by Srinivasan with 5:10 left in the half, the visitor's trailed by four, 22-18.

Amherst extended its lead down the stretch and a pair of free throws by Jaimie Renner '17 in the closing seconds put the Jeffs ahead by 10 entering the break.

Similar to the start of the game, Doswell hit a three-pointer in the opening seconds of the second half to extend the lead to 13. Hamilton wouldn't go away and cut the deficit to five shortly after following a pair of trey's by the Continentals, and a lay-up by Caroline Barrett.

The run was short-lived, however, as Amherst outscored Hamilton 13-1 over the next two minutes to pull ahead by 17, 49-32. A three-pointer by Salud with 9:08 remaining in regulation cut the deficit to 10, but it was all Purple & White the rest of the way as they cruised to a 24-point win.

As a team, the Jeffs shot 22-of-49 (44.9%) from the floor, 8-of-19 (42.1%) from three-point range and 16-of-23 (69.6%) from the charity stripe. They held the Continentals to just 13-of-51 (25.5%) shooting, 6-of-15 (40.0%) from downtown and 12-of-19 (63.2%) from the free throw line. Amherst narrowly won the rebounding margin, 38-36.

The Jeffs are back in action tomorrow, Jan. 10 and will host archrival Williams. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m.