SWARTHMORE, Pa. - The Haverford College women's basketball team (3-3, 2-1 CC) continued Centennial Conference play against rivals Swarthmore (4-2, 1-0 CC) on Tuesday at Tarble Pavilion, falling short to the Garnet by a score of 49-38. The Fords went cold in the fourth quarter as the Garnet took advantage of Haverford's shooting woes to pull away in the final minutes. Despite a strong showing from Kayla Robinson, the Fords shot just 25 percent for the game with only one three-pointer.
Both teams struggled to score the basketball in the first quarter. It could be argued that both teams locked in defensively but were also a little sluggish coming out of the holiday break. The first quarter numbers were below the early-season standards the Fords have set. Haverford struggled from the field shooting 5-for-17 and 0-for-2 from the three-point line. The Fords also turned the ball over six times, but won the rebounding battle 16-8, doubling up the Garnet. Swarthmore did not post impressive shooting numbers either, but held a slight advantage going into the second, leading by two. The Garnet shot 5-for-15 while knocking down one three-pointer. Where Swarthmore held the advantage on the Fords was the early production from the bench (5-0 lead in bench scoring in the first frame) and turning the ball over three times.
Robinson was the bright spot for Haverford in the opening quarter, grabbing eight rebounds, five of them coming on the offensive glass. However, the Fords could not convert those into second-chance points.
The second quarter started with two straight buckets from Swarthmore as Carolina Lopez and Anna Hansson converted layups to take a 16-10 lead. However, Robinson continued to hustle on the offensive end, scoring back-to-back layups in just 30 seconds. Haverford then tied the game with a driving, double-pump layup from Erin Albright and took the lead after Ally Landau found Cortlyn Morris in the paint for two, forcing Swarthmore to take a timeout. Haverford went on a 9-0 run before Swarthmore's Kim Kockenmeister finally stopped the bleeding.
It was clear that both teams just needed to get a quarter under their belt to settle into the game, but Swarthmore still held the slight edge. After shooting 33 percent in the first quarter, Swarthmore shot 50 percent from the field with two minutes left until halftime. The Garnet went on a 13-0 run to take a ten-point lead with under a minute left to play. However, Gia Flamini ended the run with a three-pointer from the corner for the last bit of action of the second quarter. The scoring was well spread out for the Fords in the first half. Robinson and Albright led the way with six points, while Morris registered five, and Landau and Flamini combined for five points.
Swarthmore ended the first half on fire but that wasn't the case to start the third stanza. The Garnet started the third quarter 0-for-9 from the field, struggling to get anything going against the feisty Fords defense. This allowed Haverford to chip away at the lead. Swarthmore opened the scoring with a free throw but Haverford took over from there. Consecutive baskets from Flamini, Robinson, and Landau trimmed the lead to one point with 2:42 remaining in the quarter. However, the Garnet took a 37-32 lead into the final period after some key baskets in the final two minutes. Robinson continued her dominance on the glass taking 17 rebounds into the fourth, and securing her fifth double-double on the season with eleven points.
Swarthmore's Norah Wingfield knocked down a jumper from three to stretch the lead to eight in the first minute of the fourth quarter. Landau, in a quiet night for her, answered with a floater on the other end of the floor. With 7:15 left to play, Morris scored her eighth point of the game with the feed from Landau, her fourth assist of the game. A scoring drought followed for the Fords, as the team went scoreless for seven minutes until Robinson made a layup with under a minute left to play. Holding a four-point lead at the time of the drought, Swarthmore did just enough to slowly build a comfortable lead of nine to finish off the Fords. Robinson finished with 13 points and a career-best 19 rebounds. Morris, a game after pulling into second all-time in career blocks for Haverford, finished with eight points, eleven boards, and five blocks.
Haverford doesn't have long to dwell on the loss as they return home for a conference matchup with Ursinus on December 1. Thursday's matchup with the Bears is the first of four games in ten days for the Fords before heading into winter break. The game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Gooding Arena.