SWARTHMORE, Pa. – Swarthmore College Women's Basketball knocked off Muhlenberg College, 63-58, in a Centennial Conference battle Thursday night at Tarble Pavilion.
The Garnet trailed the Mules by eight entering the fourth quarter. After Amanda Gorski opened the scoring, Swarthmore went on an 8-0 run to close the gap to two points.
Erin Cronin started by pulling down a defensive rebound on a missed Margaux Eripret jumper. On the opposite end of the court,
Abigail Pirron found Cronin for an opener jumper from the top of the key.
Cronin and the Swarthmore defense forced Gorski into a traveling violation. On the ensuing possession down the court,
Faith Nation handed the ball off to
Elizabeth Stiles at the elbow. Stiles took the ball down the lane to convert on the layup from the left side and was fouled on the way up. The senior guard knocked down the free throw to get the Garnet within five points.
Kim Kockenmeister, with the help of
Kendall Tribus, hit a mid-range jumper from the elbow to cut the deficit to two points. The sophomore guard stole the ball from Madison Kirchofer and laid the ball in on a fastbreak to make the score 54-53, Muhlenberg. With less than three minutes remaining in the game, Tribus found Pirron open for a three as Swarthmore took a 56-54 lead.
Swarthmore and Muhlenberg would tie the game on three separate occasions. Free-throws from Nation, Cronin, Tribus and Stiles accounted for Swarthmore's last seven points of the contest.
On the game, Swarthmore shot 41% from the field, but an impressive 77.8% (21-of-27) from the free throw line. This marks the second best game from the charity strike for the Garnet as they previously shot 80% (16-of-20) from the line against Bryn Mawr. Swarthmore held Muhlenberg to only seven points and 18.2% from the field in the fourth quarter.
Stiles led all scorers with 16 points. The senior guard added three rebounds and an assist. Nation contributed with 13 points, two assist, a steal and one block, while Kockenmeister added seven points four steals, one assist and a defensive board.
Cronin ended the contest with nine points, six rebounds and two assist. Pirron concluded the game with eight points, three rebounds, and an assist.
Swarthmore hosted local teams from the community on "Youth Basketball Night!" The youth teams welcomed the Garnet to the court for pre-game warm-ups, stood with them for the national anthem and participated in the team tunnel for the starting line-ups.
The Garnet (12-9, 5-7 CC) snapped an 11-game losing streak to the Mules (10-10, 8-7), with the last victory coming on January 16th, 2014. Swarthmore, currently sitting in fifth place in the conference standings, host Franklin & Marshall on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
