ARLINGTON, Va. – In the second game of the Pablo Coto Tip-Off at Marymount, the Haverford College women's basketball team (1-1) was defeated by the host Saints (2-0), 41-33. The contest was a matchup of teams receiving votes in the preseason release of the D3Hoops.com poll.
Haverford was paced by junior Julianna Clark as she notched 11 points, added four rebounds, and tallied a pair of assists. Senior Anna-Sophia Capizzi had a game-best three steals while senior Megan Furch recorded a pair of blocks. For the Saints, Gabriella Haddad had 11 points while Katie McShea contributed nine rebounds.
The game began as a battle in the trenches as both sides tried to feel out the rhythm of the contest with stifling defenses limiting offensive chances in the early goings. A steal from junior Nyla Robinson led to a Caroline Andersen layup on the other end to give Haverford a 6-5 lead with 2:10 to go in the period. Robinson later added a floater in the final minute of the stanza for an 8-6 advantage, and after a Hannah Zoll layup gave the Fords a 10-8 lead, Robinson converted on a fast-break layup with just 10 seconds remaining to send Haverford to a 12-8 advantage at the end of the quarter.
Clark knocked down a three-pointer to begin the second quarter scoring, extending Haverford's lead to seven at 15-8, but a Symantha Shackleford trey cut that advantage to just two at 19-17 with just over four minutes left in the half. The score held at that same two-point margin until Clark again connected from beyond the arc with under 90 seconds to play, allowing Haverford to take a 22-17 lead into the intermission.
The Fords limited Marymount, the 17th-ranked squad in the preseason WBCA coaches poll, to a 25.9 percent shooting percentage in the first half and collected eight steals, showcasing a relentless defensive effort that held opponents to the third-lowest margin in all of Division III a season ago.
A 5-0 Marymount spurt out of the halftime gates tied the score at 22-22, prompting a Haverford timeout with 5:17 to go in the period. Haddad then converted a three-point play to extend the run to 8-0 and hand Marymount a 25-22 lead with less than five minutes to play. Clark had an immediate answer, drilling a wide-open three-pointer from the corner to tie the score at 25-25. Shackleford and McShea added late layups for Marymount, but Cortlyn Morris recorded her first collegiate field goal to cut the lead to four at 31-27 entering the fourth quarter.
A three-point play from Aidan Phillips stretched the Marymount lead to nine with 7:36 to go in regulation, and a full-court press from the Saints frustrated the Fords into a timeout with 7:23 remaining. The lead hit 10 following an Ananda Claggett bucket with just over four minutes remaining, and the lead eventually was too much to overcome for Haverford down the stretch. Zoll knocked down a pair of free throws before junior Raina Gully contributed a layup in the closing moments as the final margin was eight in favor of the hosts.
The Fords now return to action tomorrow, squaring off with Ferrum in the consolation game of the Pablo Coto Tip-Off Tournament. Tip-off time is slated for 5 p.m. The meeting will be the first between the two programs.