HAVERFORD, Pa. - The Haverford College women's basketball team (1-0) opened a new era on Monday night at Gooding Arena, dispatching Eastern (0-1) by a final score of 61-50 in the first win of the Haverford tenure of first-year Head Coach Steph Carideo.
Haverford was paced by Ally Landau as the sophomore made her collegiate debut with a game-best 21 points. Annabelle Copeland tallied 11 points in her first collegiate action while Cortlyn Morris had a solid effort with six points, five rebounds, a block and a steal. Kayla Robinson excelled off the bench, notching her first career double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds in her 23 minutes.
The Fords began the night struggling to shake off a scrappy Eagles side that had the benefit of a shortened 2020-21 campaign under its belt. In total, four of the seven Haverford players to see the court were making their collegiate debuts, including four of five starters.
Eastern jetted out to a 10-6 lead behind a three-pointer from Jaelyn Harris, but the Fords went back to work with Erin Albright answering with a trey on the other end. A 4-0 Fords spurt that included Copeland and Landau connecting on runners in the paint eventually turned into a 10-0 run as Morris grabbed back-to-back buckets and Copeland connected to prompt a timeout from the visitors facing a 19-12 deficit at the end of the quarter.
In the second, Haverford again came out with some strong offensive intensity with Landau drilling a shot from beyond the arc and Gia Flamini following with a trey as she teamed up with classmate Landau yet again, ahead of another Morris layup as the lead hit 10 for the hosts.
Eastern battled back to within six at the intermission, and eventually was within just four following a Taryn Woodson layup with 6:13 left in the third, but Copeland and Robinson found the bucket in succession and Robinson added a fastbreak layup with 3:50 to play in the stanza for an eight-point Haverford advantage. A 9-0 run that spanned the ffirst our minutes and change of the fourth quarter helped put the game to bed as Landau and Robinson again were key in that run. Haverford hit its free throws late in the contest to seal the victory.
Haverford has now won five in a row in the all-time series against Eastern. The two teams last met in Haverford during the 2018 campaign.
The Fords will jump right back into action on Thursday, November 11, taking on Immaculata in a doubleheader with the men's team. Women's Basketball will take on the Mighty Macs at 6 p.m. before the men's squad takes on its counterparts from Malvern at approximately 8 p.m. inside Gooding '84 Arena.