HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College women's basketball team will have to postpone its goal of securing a spot in the Centennial Conference playoffs until Saturday as the Fords dropped a tough one to Muhlenberg College, 60-52, at Gooding Arena Wednesday night in their regular-season home finale.
Haverford (16-8, 11-8 CC) fell short in its attempt of a regular-season sweep of the Mules (19-5, 14-5), who won their fourth in a row and moved into a tie for second place in the conference standings.
The opening stanza was an intense battle as the Fords sought to slow down Muhlenberg, owner of the top-ranked offense in the conference. Facing a nine-point deficit with a little over 11 minutes to go before intermission, Haverford dug deep and reeled off 13 of the next 16 points. Rachel Baskin's three pointer with 4:58 on the clock capped the six minute surge that produced the Fords' first lead of the game, 21-20. The teams traded the lead five times in the remaining minutes of the half as Shannon Smith's jumper with a little over two minutes left on the clock pushed Haverford to a narrow 25-24 lead, but the Mules scored the last four to take a 28-25 lead into the locker room.
Dominique Meeks had 10 points, including a 6-of-6 effort from the free throw line, and six rebounds to help the Fords keep pace with Muhlenberg's high-powered offense in the opening 20 minutes.
The Mules crept out to an eight-point lead, 38-30, six minutes into the second half before Haverford's offense kicked into gear and scored 12 of the next 16 points, including two three pointers, to forge a 42-42 tie. Muhlenberg's Alexandra Chili nailed a jumper to push the Mules back to a 54-47 advantage with 3:35 left but the Fords weren't done yet. Haverford's defense, ranked 15th in all of Division III, put the clamps on Muhlenberg for the next two minutes and a Jacquelyne Pizzuto three-point bomb coupled with free throws from Meeks and Calla Miller cut the deficit to 54-52 with 1:29 remaining. The Fords would not get any closer, though, as Chili went 4-of-4 from the free throw line in the final 35 seconds to claim the victory.
The Mules became just the sixth opponent of the season to manage to shoot 40 percent from the field on the Haverford defense. Despite Muhlenberg leading the conference in steals, the Fords did an admirable job of taking care of the ball throughout the contest and registered a season-low four turnovers.
Pizzuto finished with a career-high 15 points as she struck for 11 in the second half on 3-of-4 shooting from behind the arc. Meeks added 14 and snatched a game-high nine rebounds to lead Haverford. Miller chipped in with eight points and a team-high four assists.
Chili, the leading scorer in the conference, led all scorers with 25 points and eight rebounds. Alita Zabrecky matched Chili's effort on the glass with eight while adding 14 points for the Mules.
The Fords, looking for a win to secure their first-ever appearance in the conference playoffs, head to rival Swarthmore on Saturday afternoon for their last regular-season contest. Start time is 2 p.m.