women’s basketball stays in the zone

Cook leads the Mules with a .551 shooting percentage and is averaging 12.5 points over her last eight games.

Johns Hopkins may have been in the Pink Zone, but the Muhlenberg women’s basketball team is in a zone of its own.

On a day Hopkins wore pink uniforms to raise breast cancer awareness, the Mules extended their Centennial Conference winning streak to 16 with a 63-54 win, spoiling the Blue Jays’ six-game winning streak, their Senior Day and their coach’s attempt to win her 400th game.

Muhlenberg (20-3, 16-0) reached the 20-win mark for the third time in four years and completed its third straight season sweep of Hopkins (12-11, 10-6), which slipped back into a second-place tie with four other teams with a week to go in the regular season.

Senior Lauren Boyle scored a game-high 18 points, becoming only the fourth player in CC history to surpass the career levels of 1,400 points and 250 assists. She has 1,409 points and 266 assists.

The Mules held the Blue Jays to four first-half field goals – just one in the last 10 minutes, opening up a 31-14 lead at the break.

The lead grew to 22, 52-30, midway through the second half before Hopkins made a late push. A 12-0 run cut the margin to 10, but freshman Alexandra Chili made her only three-pointer of the game, a deep shot with 2:20 on the clock to push the lead back to 13.

Hopkins came back with the next seven points, making the score 55-49. Muhlenberg went 8-for-9 from the line in the last minute to put the game away.

Sophomore Kelly McKeon played another sparkling game, with 10 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists and no turnovers. Sophomore Sheila Cook scored 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting, and Chili overcame an off-game shooting to finish with 11 points, 4 assists and 4 steals.

Senior Erin McSherry tied a career high with 14 rebounds, helping the Mules to a 45-36 advantage on the boards against a team that came in 20th in Division III in rebounding margin.
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