CHESTER, Pa. - After 623 days off the court, Swarthmore College Women's Basketball returned to play with a road contest against Widener University on Tuesday. The Garnet dropped a hard fought battle to the Pride, 64-58.
Swarthmore and Widener exchanged points to open the game with
Dana Bandurick and
Alyssa Hayashi scoring the opening four points for the visiting team. Widener's Erin Phelan ended the opening quarter with a layup to give the Pride a 20-14 lead at the first break.
Widener opened to an eleven point lead in the second quarter, but buckets from Bandurick and
T Sallie cut into the lead.
Norah Wingfield found
Katelyn Becker for an open three-pointer with ten seconds remaining in the half. Swarthmore entered the locker room at half time with a 34-29 deficit. The Garnet outscored the Pride 15-14 in the second quarter and 18-11 in the third quarter.
Hayashi hit a pair of free throws and a jumper from Wingfield got the Garnet within a point of Widener. After a Wingfield missed jumper, Hayashi gathered the offensive board and scored on a layup to tie the game at 35. The Garnet and Pride exchanged layups before Hayashi hit a three-pointer with under a minute left in the third to give Swarthmore a two point advantage at the end of the third. Widener won the fourth quarter by a score of 19-11.
Swarthmore was held to 38.5% from the field, 4-of-18 from three point distance and 4-of-7 from the charity line. Widener shot 47.3% from the field, 4-of-5 from three, and 8-of-14 from the free throw line. Hayashi led the Garnet with 20 points and added three rebounds, an assist and a steal in 30 minutes of action. Bandurick added 19 points, six rebounds, six steals and a pair of blocks, while Wingfield added a team high eight boards and eight points. Sallie finished the game with five points, four steals and three boards, while
Carolina Lopez tallied five boards and two steals.
The Garnet return to the court as they open the home slate against Arcadia University on Friday. Tip-off for the home opener is slated for 7:00 p.m.
