COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Freshman Sierra Berkel set a career high with 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting to help the Haverford College women's basketball team defeat the Ursinus College Bears 70-62 at Helfferich Hall on Wednesday evening.
Haverford began the Centennial Conference matchup by scoring 11 of the first 13 points. Ursinus responded with a 16-7 push to make the score 19-18 with 9:53 left in the first stanza. Ursinus' Jessica Porada scored 10 points during that span to lead the home team. The Fords' offense got back on track as it went on a 10-2 run to go up 29-21 at the 6:27 mark. The Bears got back within one, but the Fords scored five of the final seven points of the stanza to go into halftime with a 34-30 lead.
Senior Elizabeth Lynch paced the Fords' offense in the first 20 minutes of game action with 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting. Berkel scored nine points in the first half as the Fords shot 14-of-29 (48.3 percent) from the floor. Head coach Bobbi Morgan's team was fabulous at distributing the ball, dishing out 12 assists on those 14 baskets.
Ursinus' Elana Roadcloud's jumper at the 13:24 mark of the second half tied the game at 39 and a free throw gave the Bears their first lead of the game (40-39) a minute later. The two conference rivals exchanged leads before the Fords rattled off a 16-5 outburst to go up 60-49 with 5:17 to go in the game. Ursinus cut its deficit to five with 1:35 left, but Haverford went 6-of-6 from the charity stripe to seal the victory.
Berkel also added 10 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season. The freshman continues to lead the conference in field goal percentage (58.1). Lynch scored 17 points while tying her career high with six assists and snagging three steals. Tonight was also the senior's 100th career game which makes her the sixth player in program history to achieve the mark. Pizzuto also recorded 17 points on 60 percent shooting (6-of-10). The point guard tallied six assists and four rebounds. The Fords had 23 assists on 28 made baskets in the game and now have 44 dimes on 49 baskets in their last two contests.
Porada poured in a game-high 25 points for the Bears in the loss.
With the victory, Haverford won its 15th game of the season (15-9, 13-4 CC). It's the first time in program history that the team has won at least 15 games four straight years. The Fords have now won four straight over the Bears and six out of the last seven. Ursinus fell to 8-16 overall and 6-11 in conference play.
The Fords will wrap up the regular season at home vs. Hood Trophy rival, Swarthmore, on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. It's also Senior Day as Haverford will honor its four seniors, Pizzuto, Lynch, Pallavi Juneja and Shannon Smith. The Haverford College Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) has also declared a "Red Out." All fans are encouraged to wear red for both the men's and women's games.