COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Haverford College women's basketball team posted its fourth straight victory to open the season, taking a 51-37 victory over host Ursinus in the Centennial Conference opener for both teams at Hellffrich Hall. The Fords led wire-to-wire, dominating Ursinus and avenging a pair of losses to the Bears a season ago. Ursinus is now 2-2 on the season (0-1 CC).
Samantha Wetzel continued her standout start to the season, tallying a fourth straight double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Wetzel now has 16 career double-double efforts, adding the four in as many contests to six a season ago. A stifling Haverford defense held the Bears to just under a 27 percent shooting mark, adding five blocks. Wetzel had three rejections, extending her Centennial Conference active career lead in the category to 204.
The Fords started the contest on an 14-2 run, with Anna-Sophia Capizzi delivering a three-pointer to put the Fords up by nine at 11-2 before Raina Gully completed a three-point play for a 12 point advantage. Sydney Fail made one of two from the line for Ursinus as Haverford took a 14-3 lead at the end of the first quarter of action.
With 8:38 left in the second quarter, Lydia Konstanzer made a jumper to cut the lead to 14-7, but Haverford was able to stay in control, with the lead never dipping below seven. Julianna Clark hit a three with 24 seconds left in the half as the Fords went up 22-11 at halftime. With 3:35 left in the third, Capizzi again drained one from beyond the arc for a ten-point advantage ahead of a Tuberville layup that extended the lead to 31-19 with 2:42 left in the half.
Haverford hit 12-of-14 from the free throw line, including a 5-0 run to end the third quarter solely from the charity stripe.
Wetzel scored seven of her points in the fourth quarter, pouring in a layup that gave Haverford a commanding 40-23 lead with 8:32 left in regulation. Macy Goldbach then converted on a jumper for a 44-26 lead with 6:38 to play, giving Haverford an 18-point advantage that represented the largest lead of the evening for the Fords.
Goldbach had nine points and added two steals while Katie Cook excelled with four rebounds and four assists. Capizzi chipped in nine points and added four rebounds in 14 minutes of play while Unique Tuberville and Gully also made major impacts in reserve roles. Kaci McNeave continued her impressive run of contests against Haverford, with 11 points. Konstanzer had eight rebounds and three steals in a losing effort.
The Fords are off to their best start since the 2013-14 team that won the Centennial Conference title and reached the second round of the NCAA tournament. Only three Haverford teams in program history have started the season unbeaten through four games, as the 2011-12 team also achieved the feat en-route to an 18-9 campaign and a berth in the Centennial Conference semifinals.
Haverford is next in action in the Centennial Conference home opener against Bi-Co partner Bryn Mawr. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, November 28 inside the Gooding '84 Arena.