LANCASTER, Pa. – The Haverford women's basketball team registered its eighth consecutive victory, matching a program best winning streak, dispatching Franklin & Marshall, 56-49, on Saturday afternoon at the Mayser Center on the Franklin & Marshall campus. Samantha Wetzel posted her 11th career double-double, tallying 14 points to go with 14 rebounds, while Macy Goldbach added 14 points of her own. Katie Cook finished with 11 points and Sierra Berkel had 10 to round out the Fords double-figure scorers.
Haverford improves to 12-4 overall (9-2 Centennial Conference) while Franklin & Marshall sits at 7-9 (5-6 Centennial Conference) in defeat.
The Fords started strong, taking a 13-7 lead out the gates before the Diplomats were able to cut the score to 15-12 at the end of one quarter. Franklin & Marshall remained close, taking a brief 18-15 lead thanks to a three-point play from Sarah Haddon with 8:23 left in the first half.
The Fords tied the score at 18-18 with a Cook three-pointer with 7:22 left in the half. The two teams went without another basket until Kristin Hamil's layup at 3:29. Samantha Wetzel tied the score at 20-20 with a jumper that came with just over a minute left, but Erica Brown converted from the free-throw line to give the hosts the lead going into the halftime break.
In the second quarter, both squads were held to less than 20 percent shooting and Haverford only scored five points in the stanza. The Fords started the second half on an 8-0 run as Berkel and Wetzel combined to give Haverford a 26-22 lead.
The Diplomats cut the lead to 28-25 before a Cook three-pointer restored the Haverford lead to six at 31-25. Ashlyn Petersen and Sarosha Parsons both hit shots to cut the advantage to 31-29, but Berkel hit a pair of free throws and Macy Goldbach completed a three-point play for a 36-29 advantage with 49 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
A Katie Cook layup with 5:33 left in regulation punctuated an 8-4 stretch that allowed Haverford to go ahead by nine. Erica Brown hit a jumper with 1:10 left in regulation to cut the lead to 50-44, but Haverford, as it has done so often in the fourth quarter of games this month, was able to put the game away at the free throw line. The Fords shot 73.7 percent from the charity stripe.
Franklin & Marshall was paced by Petersen, who had an outstanding day off the bench, posting a game-high 17 points and adding three assists in just 28 minutes of action. Hamil, another player off the bench for the Diplomats, was second on the team in scoring with nine. Franklin & Marshall held a 26-4 advantage in bench scoring.
Maddie Gallic recorded a career-high rebound total with seven, setting a career-high. Haverford has now won eight straight for the first time January 11-January 30 of 2014, a feat that was achieved en-route to a Centennial title and an NCAA tournament run.
The Fords next return to action with a Tuesday night contest with BiCo partner Bryn Mawr. The tip-off is slated for 7:00 p.m. in the Gooding '84 Arena.