COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Led by a strong second half performance from sophomore Elle Larsen, the first-place Swarthmore College (14-2, 10-1) women's basketball team collected its fifth straight victory by defeating Ursinus College (8-8, 5-6) 57-53 on Saturday afternoon.

Down by as much as 11 points, the Bears battled back to a one possession game with four seconds remaining and Lewis Diamond at the line with a chance to make it a one point game. Diamond missed which forced the Bears to draw a foul. The Garnet took advantage of the opportunity and put away two good shots for the victory.

Shooting 6-for-7 at the line, Larsen hit two free throws to put the Garnet ahead by four in the final seconds to clinch the victory. Larsen finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds – including 13 points and nine boards in the second half – to collect her second double-double on the season.

Junior Katie Lytle added 12 points and 13 boards for her fifth straight double-double, while also collecting a game-high four assists. Senior Madeline Ross added the Garnet's first-half offense with nine points and six rebounds – she finished with 14 points, six rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal.

Jessica Porada led the Bears with 13 points and eight rebounds, while Alyssa Polimeni went 4-for-4 at the line and 3-for-8 in the field to collect 11 points in the effort.

Behind by six points in the opening minutes of the first half, Swarthmore caught fire with a 9-0 run with points coming from four different players, to take its first lead of the game at 11-8 with 13:23 remaining. The teams were closely matched the rest of the half and the scoring margin never rose above three points.

Porada made a layup with three seconds on the clock to tie the game at 29-29 entering the break. Along with the score, statistics looked almost identical between the Bears and the Garnet after twenty minutes of play.

Swarthmore will look to continue its streak into next week; starting with a home game against conference foe Haverford College on Wednesday, January 23rd at 6:00 p.m.