Jen Piccolomini’s running fallaway jumper at the overtime buzzer gave the Western Maryland women’s basketball team an 83-82 win over Muhlenberg in a thrilling battle between two of the Centennial Conference’s top teams.

The Mules (14-2, 6-2) had taken an 82-81 lead with 21.9 seconds remaining when sophomore Susan Marchiano made one of two free throws. The Green Terror (13-4, 6-2) called timeout with 14.5 seconds left to set up a play, but when Muhlenberg defended it well Piccolomini had to improvise.

Junior Randi Baran, who scored a career-high 23 points on the strength of a school-record six three-pointers, hit two game-tying field goals in the final two minutes of regulation. Her three-pointer with 1:34 left knotted the game at 70, and her layup off a backdoor pass from sophomore Becky Richmond made the score 72-72 with 56.9 seconds left.

In the final five seconds of regulation, Muhlenberg had three shots from close in to win the game, but the ball would not fall.

Neither team led by more than a basket in overtime. The Mules took their first lead since early in the second half on Baran’s three-pointer with 56.5 seconds left, but Western Maryland tied the score 18 seconds later on a three-point play by Piccolomini.

Marchiano had a huge game, finishing with 25 points, a career-high 18 rebounds and four blocked shots. Richmond added 14 boards.

In spite of the loss, Muhlenberg remained one game behind East Division-leading Swarthmore, which lost at Gettysburg.

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Freshman Meghan Douglas-Snyder pole vaulted 9 feet, 10 inches to break the school and Centennial Conference records at the Bison Open, a 33-team meet hosted by Bucknell.

Douglas-Snyder, who placed seventh, broke her own school record of 9-0, set last week, and the CC mark of 9-3. Her height was an ECAC qualifier.

Junior Jason App (right) also qualified for the ECACs in the pole vault, tying his own school record of 13-9.

For the third straight week, freshman Ashlie Hankee set the school record in the 55-meter hurdles, lowering her mark to 8.93 seconds. The men’s 55 hurdles record also fell, as freshman John Brodowski ran an 8.19 while finishing sixth in the pentathlon.

The women’s 4x400-meter relay team of sophomore Lesley Bruno, freshman Samantha Sachleben, sophomore Diana Garretto and freshman Katie Macomber set a school record with a time of 4:26.81.

Senior Mark Lesko and junior Aaron Holden each recorded a double-double to lead the Muhlenberg men’s basketball team to a 66-56 Centennial Conference win at Western Maryland (6-11, 2-5).

Lesko had 19 points and 14 rebounds, to go along with four blocked shots, for his ninth double-double of the season. He also moved into the top 10 on the Mules’ all-time scoring list with 1,291 career points. Holden recorded 14 points and a career-high 14 rebounds in his second double-double.

Muhlenberg (14-4, 6-2) out-rebounded the Green Terror, 56-36, and held the hosts to 27-percent shooting.

The Mules jumped out to a 15-2 lead and stayed on top the rest of the way. Western Maryland closed to within two points, at 40-38, seven minutes into the second half, but three-point plays by Lesko and junior Anthony Strachan highlighted a 12-4 run that gave Muhlenberg a double-digit lead again. Strachan finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.

The win, combined with Ursinus’ 95-63 loss at Johns Hopkins, gave the Mules a one-game lead in the CC East Division.

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