COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. - Sophomore Elizabeth Lynch tallied 16 points to help the Haverford College women's basketball team take down host Ursinus College, 63-45, on Thursday night and continue its perfect beginning to the Centennial Conference season.
The Fords (6-1, 5-0 CC) are off to their best start in program history while the Bears (4-4, 2-3) dropped their third consecutive contest.
Haverford's offense was clicking from the start as it went 4-of-4 from the field over the opening four minutes to move out to an 11-4 advantage. Ursinus scored six of the next eight points of the contest to move within five, 13-8, at 13:46 but three three-pointers -- one by Rachel Baskin and two by Lynch -- in a three-minute stretch helped the Fords extend their lead to 24-12 at 9:02.
Lynch struck again at the six-minute mark as her layup provided Haverford with its largest lead of the opening 20 minutes, 28-14. A cold stretch by the Fords enabled the Bears to creep within seven, 28-21, at 1:04 before Victoria Sobocinski accounted for Haverford's fifth three-pointer of the opening half in the final minute to send the Fords to the locker room with a 31-21 lead.
Dominique Meeks was active on both ends of the floor in the first half with six points, two steals and seven rebounds including six on the defensive end as Haverford won the rebounding battle (19-13) in the opening stanza.
The Fords continued their solid play in the second half as they tallied three of the first four buckets after intermission to once again lead by 14, 37-23, at 17:08. Aided by four more three-pointers over the final 16 minutes of action -- two by Lynch and one each by Calla Miller and Jacquelyne Pizzuto -- Haverford maintained a double-digit lead throughout the remainder of the contest. Pizzuto's three-pointer beat the shot clock at the 4:11 mark and Sobocinski's layup less than a minute later staked the Fords to their largest lead of the night, 61-37, with three and a half minutes remaining.
Lynch finished with a season-high four three-pointers on 4-of-6 shooting from behind the arc. Baskin and Sobocinski each added nine points and Meeks and Miller chipped in with eight apiece as Haverford once again featured a balanced attack. The Fords took impressive care of the basketball as they turned the ball over a mere six times on their way to tallying 15 assists on 25 field goals. Pizzuto tied her career high with seven helpers while Miller added three.
Haverford edged Ursinus on the glass, 37-31, with the help of a team-high nine rebounds from Meeks and six from Baskin. Shannon Smith also provided solid play off the bench with five rebounds and two blocks.
Jessica Porada took game-high honors with 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Bears.
Looking to extend their five-game winning streak, the Fords head to Washington College on Saturday for the second of three straight road contests. The match-up against the Shorewomen begins at 2 p.m.