women’s basketball rules the road

A three-pointer by sophomore Kaitlyn O’Malley, who finished with eight points, capped the 11-0 run.

Only Hannah Montana is spending more successful time on the road than the Muhlenberg women’s basketball team.

A 77-57 win at Swarthmore completed a 33-day stretch in which the Mules played all 10 of their Centennial Conference opponents, eight of them on the road. They went 6-2 in CC games away from home and now return home to Memorial Hall to close out the regular season with three important games against playoff contenders, beginning

Men Suffer Second Straight Loss The Muhlenberg men’s basketball team lost its second straight game, 72-57 at Swarthmore. The Garnet (6-16, 2-13) outscored the Mules (10-12, 8-7) by a 41-24 margin in the second half to overcome a two-point halftime deficit. Sophomore Ryan Foster scored 14 points and blocked a career-high four shots for Muhlenberg. Despite the loss, the Mules still have a one-game lead over both Franklin & Marshall and Dickinson, both of which also lost, for the fifth and final Centennial Conference playoff berth with three games remaining. Click here for box score.

Saturday against Johns Hopkins.

“Relief” was the word senior Abra Like used to describe the last of the road trips. “It’s been awesome to see how well this team has played on the road, and I’m really proud of us for that. But I’m very excited to get back home.”

With nine road wins on the season, Muhlenberg is one short of the school record it set in 2006. The team’s latest four-game road swing was most impressive: four wins by an average margin of 18.8 points.

What makes the Mules (17-5, 12-3) so good on the road? “When the other team makes a run, we stay in there mentally and don’t lose our focus,” said Like.

Swarthmore (6-15, 3-12) made its “run” at the beginning, opening up a 9-5 lead 3:30 into the game. But the Garnet was stuck at nine for more than five minutes, as Muhlenberg went on an 11-0 run to go up 16-9 and was never seriously threatened the rest of the way.

The Mules received outstanding play from the frontcourt combo of junior Erin McSherry and freshman Sheila Cook, who combined for 21 points and 14 rebounds in the first half, compared to 11 and five for Swarthmore’s two excellent posts.

McSherry finished with a career-high 16 points (note: corrected Feb. 18) and blocked three shots to move into third on the team’s all-time list with 86 for her career. Cook’s 16 points and 10 rebounds were good for her team-leading fourth double-double.

A pair of backcourt players, junior Lauren Boyle (10 points, five assists) and freshman Kelly McKeon (13 points) also scored in double figures.

“We really ran it at them and pushed the ball hard, even after they hit shots,” said Like, who notched four assists. “They don’t have a lot of depth and couldn’t keep up with that.”
Click here for box score.