GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Haverford College's women's basketball team entered uncharted waters with its 55-52 Centennial Conference victory over host Gettysburg College on Saturday at Bream Gym.
In addition to earning a season sweep of the Bullets (14-8, 9-7 CC) for the first time with Saturday's win, Haverford (19-3, 13-3) set program highs for single-season wins both overall and within the conference.
The tough road victory also allows Haverford to keep pace at the head of the pack in the Centennial standings, tied at the top with Johns Hopkins University which was idle Saturday.
First-half action between the Fords and Bullets was back and forth throughout the opening 20 minutes with Haverford opening up a lead of five points on several occasions, but Gettysburg responding to take a lead of four points within a half that saw four lead changes and four ties.
Pallavi Juneja's three-pointer 24 seconds before halftime provided the fifth lead change, breaking the fourth tie, and gave Haverford a 26-23 advantage heading into the break.
The lead changed hands twice in the opening minutes of the second half and stood tied, 29-29, when Shannon Smith converted a layup to push the Fords in front by two at the 15:49 mark.
Haverford maintained its advantage all the way until the 8:38 mark when a Samantha Pagel layup gave Gettysburg its first lead of the half.
Two minutes later Jacquelyne Pizzuto's three-pointer supplied the contest's final lead change, pushing the Fords in front 42-41 with 6:12 to play.
Haverford grew its advantage to as many as seven over those final minutes and led by five when Gettysburg's Caroline Murphy sank a jumper from the right wing to beat the horn, as well as to join the 1,000-point club for her career.
Both teams' defenses did what was expected of each during the game. Haverford's ranks 14th in the nation in scoring defense and 12th in field goal percentage allowed, while Gettysburg is 19th in scoring defense and eighth in field goal percentage allowed.
On Saturday the Bullets were limited to 28 percent shooting from the floor and Haverford shot only a little better, at 31 percent, against the Gettysburg defense.
The Fords' Elizabeth Lynch led Haverford's attack with 19 points and also came away with nine rebounds, sharing team-high honors on the glass with Rachel Baskin. Smith added 11 points and six rebounds in the winning effort.
Murphy led all scorers on the day with 20 points for the Bullets. She just missed the double-double, coming away with a team-high nine rebounds in the loss.
Haverford's historic season continues Wednesday night with a visit from Ursinus College at 6 p.m., and the regular season concludes Saturday, Feb. 22 at Swarthmore College with a 1 p.m. tip-off against the host Garnet.