IMMACULATA, Pa. – Despite placing four players in double-figures, the Haverford College women's basketball team lost at Immaculata University, 71-67, on a snowy Saturday afternoon at Alumnae Hall.
Nina Voith scored a game-high 20 points for Haverford (5-6). Dominique Meeks posted a double-double with 16 points and 16 rebounds. Victoria Sobocinski tallied 10 points while Calla Miller added 11 and dished out a game-high five assists.
The Fords received just five points from the other eight players who saw action. Just two of those points came from the bench; meanwhile, Immaculata (7-4) received 22 points from its bench. The main reason was Kelly Brown who scored 16 points and went 10-for-12 from the foul line. Three other Mighty Macs reached double-figures. Chelsea McTigue scored 14 points to go along with seven boards. Chrissy Esbensen added 11 and Rachel Denis went for 10 points and collected seven caroms.
Haverford had to play catch up early in the first half, but managed to erase a six-point deficit at the start to take a one-point lead near the 13-minute mark. The Fords' largest lead of the game came at the 10:29 mark when Voith hit a three-pointer for a 15-12 advantage. After Voith's trey the Mighty Macs responded with an 11-0 run to take a 23-15 lead with 8:16 remaining. Consecutive treys by Sobocinski helped bring the Fords with four, 25-21, but HC would not get any closer the rest of the half. Voith made a pair of field goals in the final minutes to make it a seven-point game, 39-32, at the break.
The Fords heated up, scoring on each of their first four possessions to open the second half. The hot start tied the score at 41-all as Meeks' layup capped the run. Haverford tied the score once more in the early going, but could never take the lead. Immaculata's lead hovered around four until a Bridget Welz layup put the hosts up by seven, 57-50, with 8:40 to play.
Field goals by Sobocinski and Miller with fewer than two minutes left made it a one-point game. Immaculata quickly went up by three on an Esbensen layup with 58 seconds showing. On the Fords' next possession Meeks grabbed a rebound and was fouled. She made one-of-two from the line to make the score 69-67 with 29 seconds remaining. Voith grabbed the rebound off Meeks' missed second free throw. Meeks scored what would have been a game-tying layup with 10.2 seconds, but the basket was waved off and called a jump ball with the possession arrow favoring the home team. Brown made two free throws with seven seconds left that sealed the victory for the Mighty Macs.
Although HC owned a 51-48 advantage on the glass, Immaculata had 24 offensive boards which resulted in 24 second chance points. Leah Kuczynski had 11 rebounds for the Mighty Macs with six coming on the offensive end.
The Fords remain on the road this Tuesday when they travel to Centennial Conference opponent Dickinson College for a 7 p.m. tip-off. Haverford downed the Red Devils, 45-40, Nov. 30 at Gooding Arena.