women’s basketball hangs on;
one step away from history

This is why it’s so hard to go undefeated.

Its playoff position long secured, the Muhlenberg women’s basketball team had to

McSherry scored eight points and blocked a pair of shots. She is shooting 74.2 percent from the field (26 for 35) in her last six games.

travel to one of its least favorite places to take on a team that was desperately fighting for its playoff life. The Mules came through, surviving a near-miss on a last-second desperation shot to escape with a 67-65 win at Dickinson.

Muhlenberg (21-3, 17-0) tied the Centennial Conference record for league wins in a season and can complete the first 18-0 campaign in

Mules Ranked Second in Region The Muhlenberg women’s basketball team moved up to No. 2 in the Mid-Atlantic in the second regional poll released by the NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Committee. The Mules were No. 3 in the first rankings last week, but moved up after Messiah was upset by Albright. These rankings, and not the national polls, are the ones used to determine seedings for the NCAA Tournament. Moravian, the top-ranked team in the region, still has to play No. 5 Scranton this week, and those two teams could potentially meet again next week in the Landmark Conference playoffs. The rankings, with overall and in-region records through Sunday’s games: 1. Moravian (20-4/18-4) 2. Muhlenberg (20-3/20-3) 3. DeSales (19-4/19-4) 4. Messiah (20-3/18-3) 5. Scranton (20-4/17-5) 6. Alvernia (16-7/15-5)

CC women’s history by beating Ursinus in Saturday’s regular-season finale. The Red Devils (13-11, 10-7), meanwhile, slipped back into a tie for the fifth and final playoff spot, a game behind three teams that are tied for second.

“The win showed we have a lot of heart,” said senior Erin McSherry. “This is one of the hardest gyms to play in because of the atmosphere – sometimes shots don’t always go our way here. To come and beat a really talented team is great.”

The Mules had no trouble with shots falling in the first half, shooting 56.5 percent to go into the locker room with a 37-33 edge. Two years ago when the Mules played at the Kline Center, they scored 34 points in the entire game.

Muhlenberg stayed hot through the first part of the second half, opening up a 58-43 lead with just under 10 minutes to play. Then the shots stopped going in. The Mules took an 11-point lead, 62-51, on McSherry’s jumper with 6:28 left, but did not make a field goal the rest of the game.

Dickinson scored the next five points to slice the lead to six at the one-minute mark. The lead was still six before a Red Devil three-point play chopped it in half with 25 seconds left.

Freshman Alexandra Chili made one of two free throws with 20 seconds to go, making the score 67-63, and Dickinson scored on a putback with one tick left to draw within two.

The Red Devils stole the ensuing inbounds pass near midcourt, and a desperation shot hit the back of the iron as the buzzer sounded.

“I was so nervous,” said McSherry. “I was just hoping it wouldn’t go in. Even after the game in the locker room, we were talking about it, saying ‘Are we sure we won?’”

Sophomore Kelly McKeon led the Mules with a season-high 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Chili added 18 points, and sophomore Sheila Cook scored 10.
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