Women's Basketball Gets Old Fashioned to Beat Bears
Wednesday, January 18, 2012|
In the age of Twitter and Facebook, most college students are always looking for something new and fancy. But in its game with Ursinus, the Muhlenberg women’s basketball team got a little old school.
After going back and forth for the first 10 minutes of the game, Muhlenberg outscored the Bears 17-3 during a seven-minute stretch late in the first half to take a 29-21 lead into halftime.
The Mules (13-2, 8-2) extended their lead to 12 early in the second half, but the Bears responded by scoring the next nine points to make it a one-possession game. That’s when junior Alita Zabrecky and senior Katy Rossino provided back-to-back big plays to regain control.
Zabrecky crashed the boards and drew a foul while putting back an offensive rebound to snap the Mule scoreless streak. Then Rossino stripped the Ursinus ball handler on the wing and converted a fast break layup while getting fouled.
Following a pair of Ursinus free throws, senior Kimberly Mui pulled down a key offensive rebound that eventually led to a layup for Naddaff.
The Bears (7-9, 6-5) hit a jumper before sophomore Erin Laney connected on a hook shot and Mui tapped a rebound to Naddaff for an easy layup for an 11-point lead.
Ursinus got it back to six on a three-pointer four possessions later, but senior Alexandra Chili responded with a three of her own, and the Mules did not let the Bears any closer than nine the rest of the way.
“We seemed a lot more calm and in control tonight,” Naddaff said. “The last two games we were just kind of running around, but tonight we focused on running our offense and got some momentum going.”
Muhlenberg shot 44 percent from the field after not breaking the 38-percent barrier in the two losses.
Zabrecky led the Mules with 17 points and tied Naddaff for the team high with six rebounds. Laney tied her career high with 10 points, and Chili also added 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.
The win put the Mules into a tie for first place in the Centennial Conference. But, more importantly, it gets them back on the winning track.
“You definitely never want to lose, but the last two games kind of forced us to refocus,” Naddaff said. “We know we’re a good team, but there are a lot of other good teams in the conference, so we have to bring our best every night. We did that tonight, and hopefully we can go on another winning streak.”
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