women’s basketball wins in ot

Men’s Basketball, Wrestling Fall Men’s Basketball For the second straight game, the Muhlenberg men’s basketball team got off to a slow start and could not recover, losing 70-64 at McDaniel. The Mules (5-4, 1-2) missed their first nine shots and fell into a 20-5 hole eight-and-a-half minutes into the game. They eventually found their touch, putting up 64 points against a team that came in allowing only 58.4 per game (fifth in Division III), but the Green Terror maintained a lead of at least six points the rest of the way. Junior Peter Barnes notched his fourth double-double of the season with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Juniors Obi Nwizugbo and Ryan Foster scored 10 points apiece. Click here for box score. Click here for complete stats. Wrestling A shorthanded Mule team dropped its first two dual matches of the season, 35-12 to Elizabethtown and 42-6 to host New York University. Senior Matt Horn accounted for 12 of the Mules’ 18 points with a pair of pins. Click here for box scores.

After players on both sides had missed clutch free throws, Alexis Bates must have been calm and confident to be able to hit the game-tying and game-winning free throws with two seconds left in overtime, right?

Wrong. “I was soooooooo nervous,” said the hero

Bates is a career 75-percent shooter from the foul line but was only 7-for-17 coming into the McDaniel game.

of the Muhlenberg women’s basketball team’s 77-76 win at McDaniel. “After the first one, I thought, Thank God that went in!”

The second one did too, and the Mules escaped from Westminster with their undefeated Centennial Conference record intact. This was just the latest in a series of heart-stopping games between the two teams, who have played six one-point contests since 2002.

Muhlenberg (8-2, 5-0) led by 10 points (21-11) early on, but the margin was only four at halftime and was no higher than six in the second half.

Freshman Alexandra Chili broke a 61-all tie with her fourth three-pointer of the game with 2:19 on the game clock, but the Green Terror (4-5, 2-2) scored the next four points on free throws to take a 65-64 lead with 30 seconds to play.

With 13 seconds left in regulation, sophomore Kelly McKeon made one of two foul shots to knot the score at 65. A McDaniel player was fouled with six ticks left but missed both free throws, and the game went into overtime.

The Mules seemed to be in control when they scored the first seven points of the extra period on a pair of buckets by McKeon and a three-pointer by Bates. Back came the Green Terror to score the next five points. Muhlenberg missed three of four free throws in the last 62 seconds, opening the door for the Terror to take a 76-75 lead on a three with 11 seconds to play.

McKeon, who had eight assists to go along with her 11 points, then dribbled the length of the court and, when she was double-teamed, passed off to Bates, who was fouled going up for a layup.

Bates finished with a season-high 16 points and eight rebounds, while Chili led all scorers with 22 points. Senior Lauren Boyle added 14.

The win left the Mules. who are tied for 23rd in the WBCA poll, alone in first place in the CC with a 5-0 mark. Four of the five wins have come on the road against teams that are currently .500 or better in the league.

“I don’t think it matters where we play,” said Bates. “We don’t think about it. We just think about doing our stuff, and winning.”
Click here for box score.
Click here for complete stats.