HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College women's basketball team turned away visiting McDaniel, 67-50, on Thursday evening inside the Gooding '84 Arena, recording a fourth consecutive victory and reaching the 10-win plateau in just 12 games. The run represents the second quickest start in program history. The start trails only the 2013-14 squad that reached the mark in 11 games en route to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Haverford improves to 10-2 overall (7-1 Centennial Conference) while McDaniel falls to 6-7 overall (4-4 Centennial Conference).
Senior co-captains Sierra Berkel (15 points, 11 rebounds) and Samantha Wetzel (10 points, 12 rebounds) each posted double-double efforts to lead the offensive charge for Haverford. Berkel posted a sixth straight contest in double-digit scoring. Wetzel was also a standout defensively, tallying a career-best seven blocks.
First year Julianna Clark again excelled off the bench, scoring 10 points and adding five rebounds. Katie Cook had an all-around stellar contest with eight points, six assists and five rebounds. The junior posted her 200th career assist in the first quarter.
Haverford quickly jetted out to a 16-9 lead after falling behind 6-1 in the first moments of the contest. Clark knocked down a three for the seven point advantage late in the first quarter before Cook converted from beyond the arc and Wetzel added a layup for a 21-13 lead with 7:06 left in the second quarter. Berkel added a pair of layups and Wetzel finished the half with a flourish as the teams headed for the intermission with Haverford holding a ten point lead at 27-17.
Wetzel contributed five blocks in the first 20 minutes of action, stopping the inside game for McDaniel and forcing the Green Terror to rely on a three-point shooting effort that was just 1-of-6 in the first half.
Jasmine Smith connected from beyond the arc, to help McDaniel open the second half on an 8-4 spurt, closing to within six at 31-25 with 7:02 remaining in the quarter. Liv Storer converted a pair of free throws to restore a six point deficit at 33-27 with 5:07 left, but the Fords closed the quarter on a 16-2 run, taking a 20-point lead, the largest of the contest, into the fourth quarter.
McDaniel got to within 12 in the final stages of the contest, but Anna-Sophia Capizzi restored a 15 point advantage with under a minute remaining, nailing a trey for a 65-50 lead.
Macy Goldbach (nine points) and Capizzi (eight points) joined Cook as guards making a major impact on the scoresheet. Storer paced McDaniel with 16 points and Smith added 11 in a losing effort for the Green Terror.
The Fords face another quick turnaround with two road matchups slated for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. The Fords make the trip to Baltimore for a 3 p.m. matchup with Johns Hopkins on Saturday. The Fords have won the last two meetings between the two schools as well as three of the last four matchups.
Following the trip to Baltimore, Haverford briefly reverts to non-conference play at Immaculata on Monday night (6 p.m.) Haverford has won the last five meetings with the Mighty Macs dating back to the 2011-12 season, including a 58-44 victory at home last season.