ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The Haverford College women's basketball team could not complete the season sweep over the Muhlenberg College Mules, falling 66-53 at Memorial Hall on Wednesday evening.
After senior Jacquelyne Pizzuto registered the first points of the game on a three-pointer, the Mules had 12-0 outburst over the next three minutes of game action. Haverford scored six straight to cut its deficit to two (18-16) with 9:07 left in the first half, but Muhlenberg scored four consecutive points to end the threat.
The Fords would get within two again at the 2:37 mark, but the Mules wouldn't surrender the lead and went into halftime with a 32-26 advantage. Muhlenberg jumped out in front in the first stanza behind its 11 offensive rebounds and seven steals. The Mules had 10 second chance points and 11 points off the Fords' turnovers. Senior Elizabeth Lynch paced the offense for head coach Bobbi Morgan's team in the first half with 11 points while also grabbing a team-high five rebounds. Sophomore Madison Skerritt was perfect from the floor, making all three of her attempts for six points.
Muhlenberg pushed its lead to double digits with a basket by Christina Santone (40-30) at the 17:18 mark of the second half and would expand it to as many as 16. Haverford made one more push, scoring eight straight to make the score 57-49 with 5:42 left in the game, but Muhlenberg scored on back-to-back possessions to put the game out of reach.
Haverford lost despite having a better shooting percentage (38.9 percent) than Muhlenberg (37.5 percent). The Fords only made 9-of-32 from beyond the arc (28.1 percent) and were outrebounded 42-36. The Mules had 19 offensive rebounds which led to 16 second chance points and 18 points off of 20 Fords' turnovers in the game.
Lynch recorded the fifth double-double of her career with a team-high 16 points and 10 rebounds. She also pitched in four assists and a block. Freshman Sierra Berkel went 4-of-5 from the field for eight points and had five rebounds. Senior Shannon Smith had seven rebounds and four blocks in the loss.
Leanna Tallamy had a game-high 19 points while snagging eight rebounds for the Mules. Santone had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds while Nicole Pepe had 15 points in the win.
With the loss, the Fords drop to 12-8 on the season and 10-3 in the Centennial Conference while the Mules improve to 13-6 and 12-3 in conference play. Haverford will now travel to the first place McDaniel Green Terror (19-1 overall) on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. The Green Terror defeated the Fords 61-57 at the Gooding '84 Arena on last month.