WESTMINSTER, Md - The Haverford College women's basketball team (19-6, 15-5 CC) defeated homestanding McDaniel (12-13, 7-13 CC) on Saturday afternoon, finishing the regular season with a 53-46 victory at the Gill Center. The Fords had two scorers in double figures as Anna-Sophia Capizzi poured in a game-high 15 points while Megan Furch narrowly missed a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds, adding a career-best four steals to that total. Maddie Gallic also had a strong all-around effort with eight points and a career-best nine rebounds.
Both offenses struggled in the early goings, with McDaniel taking an early 5-1 lead with a Caroline Ward three-pointer with 4:42 left in the opening stanza. A 6-0 spurt for the Fords gave Haverford its first lead of the contest at 7-5, and Capizzi knocked down her first trey of the afternoon with under 90 seconds left in the period for a 10-8 lead.
Capizzi drilled a three with 7:10 left in the second to give Haverford a seven-point cushion at 19-12. The lead was the largest of the opening half for the Fords as McDaniel then mounted a 6-1 run to pull within one possession at 20-18. Katie Cook connected on a triple left with 2:26 left in the half for a five-point lead, and Macy Goldbach followed with a trey less than a minute later for the 26-21 lead.
The Fords took a 28-23 lead into the intermission, but McDaniel came out on a 6-2 spurt out of the second half gates, and cut the Haverford lead to one at 30-29 with 4:48 left in the third period. Capizzi and Nyla Robinson later helped key a 4-0 spurt for the Fords, with Julianna Clark blocking a McDaniel shot attempt before Robison scooped the rebound and took it coast to coast for a layup that put Haverford up 34-29 with 1:42 left in the period.
McDaniel would not go away, but Haverford persisted on offense as Clark knocked down a triple to extend the lead to 37-33 with under a minute left in the third. With 8:05 left in the fourth, Maddie Gallic finished an acrobatic layup, stepping around the McDaniel defense to give Haverford a 39-35 lead. McDaniel pulled back within two, but a Furch layup extended the lead back to six at 43-37. Capizzi drained her third three of the contest on the following possession for a nine-point lead as Haverford began to find its rhythm again midway through the fourth.
The Haverford lead stretched to as many as 11 at 50-39, the largest of the contest, and the Fords were able to take advantage of a dwindling clock, with the Green Terror forced to send Haverford to the line in the waning moments of the contest.
Haverford will now turn its focus to the Centennial Conference Tournament. The Fords have clinched the No. 3 seed and a berth in the semifinal round on Friday. Haverford will face off with second-seeded Johns Hopkins needing one more win to clinch back-to-back 20 win seasons for the first time in program history.