HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College women's basketball team saw its conference unbeaten streak come to an end as it fell 61-57 to the McDaniel Green Terror at the Gooding '84 Arena on Saturday afternoon.
The duo of freshman Sierra Berkel and senior Jacquelyne Pizzuto recorded double-doubles in the loss. Berkel registered 10 points and 10 rebounds while Pizzuto scored 10 points and tied her career high with 10 assists.
The Fords had a balanced scoring attack in the game with four players reaching double figures. Senior Elizabeth Lynch tallied a team-high 13 points while grabbing seven rebounds, dishing out six assists, snagging four steals and blocking a shot. Freshman Anna Schrecengost added a team-high 13 points and had five rebounds in the loss. Freshman Samantha Wetzel had six points, eight rebounds and a block off the bench.
Haverford found itself down 11-4 early in the first half which led to a timeout. The Fords went on a 9-2 run to even the score at 13 before the Green Terror scored 11 straight to take a 24-13 advantage. Haverford got within five, but went into the locker room down 29-22 at the half. The home team had 11 turnovers in the first 20 minutes of game and only made one of eight attempts (12.5 percent) from beyond the arc.
Head coach Bobbi Morgan's team cut its deficit in the second stanza to one after Pizzuto scored six consecutive points to make the score 35-34 with 15:21 to go. The Green Terror answered with a 9-0 run to push its lead back to 10 (44-34) two minutes later. The game of runs continued as the Fords pushed forward with 13 of the next 15 points led by Lynch's five points including a three-pointer which put them in front 47-46 with 8:15 left in the game.
After two free throws, McDaniel scored on back-to-back possessions which gave the visitors a 52-47 advantage at the 4:47 mark of the second half. The Fords got within one on three separate occasions over the next two minutes before a basket by Schrecengost put them ahead 57-56 with 1:19 to go. On the next play, McDaniel's Steph Perez hit a long distance three giving the conference foe a two point lead. The Green Terror sank two more free throws and kept the Fords off the board the rest of the way to secure the victory.
McDaniel's Alyssa March paced the scoring for visitors with 15 points on 7-of-12 (58.3 percent) shooting while Perez also had 15 points in the win.
The Fords saw their record drop to 6-6 and 5-1 in the Centennial Conference while the Green Terror improved to 10-1 and 5-1 in conference play. Gettysburg fell to Muhlenberg today which makes it a three-way tie at the top of the conference standings (Gettysburg, McDaniel and Haverford). The Fords travel to Gettysburg on Tuesday in a battle of 5-1 conference teams beginning at 8 p.m.