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Women's Basketball Defeated in Heartbreaker at Swarthmore

Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - page 2
 

A banked-in three-pointer at the buzzer spoiled a furious rally and send the Muhlenberg women’s basketball team to a heartbreaking loss, 68-66 at first-place Swarthmore.

Hannah Rush
Sophomore Hannah Rush hit this three-pointer from the corner as part of the 11-0 first-half run. She finished with five points and four assists.
The Mules (11-8, 8-6) stormed back from a 14-point second-half deficit to take their first lead of the game, 66-65, when senior Kate Clawson made the second of two free throws with 1:02 remaining.

Swarthmore got an offensive rebound on its next possession but then threw the ball out of bounds with 28.7 seconds to play. Muhlenberg was fouled with 25.7 ticks left but missed the front end of a one-and-one, and the Garnet (16-3, 12-2) rebounded.

Erin Laney
Junior Erin Laney assisted on Pepe's game-tying three after snagging her fourth rebound of the game. She also scored nine points.
The Mules were called for a foul on a drive to the basket with 5.7 seconds showing. Kayla Moritzky missed both free throws, but in the scramble for the rebound the ball came out to her on the right wing, and her three-pointer went off the glass and in as the buzzer sounded.

Muhlenberg trailed 29-17 before closing out the second half on an 11-0 run to cut the deficit to one. Behind a flurry of three-pointers, however, Swarthmore established a 14-point lead, at 50-36, midway through the second half.

It was 60-52 with 5:45 left before senior Alita Zabrecky kicked off an 8-1 run with a three-pointer to again bring the Mules within one. Again Swarthmore tried to pull away, scoring the next four points to make it 65-60, but sophomore Nicole Pepe assisted Clawson on a layup, then hit a three from the corner with 1:37 left to finally tie the score.

Zabrecky finished with 15 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals. Clawson scored all 13 of her points in the second half, and junior Leeann Lanza had 11 points and seven rebounds.

The loss dropped Muhlenberg into a three-way tie for fourth place in the Centennial Conference with six games remaining in the regular season.
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