women’s basketball road streak ends

Wrestlers Swept at Home The Muhlenberg wrestling team ran into some tough competition in a pair of home Centennial Conference matches, losing to Stevens, 46-6, and 12th-ranked Merchant Marine, 45-9. The Mules got off to good starts in both matches. Against Stevens, freshman Tommy Gazza recorded his first career pin at 133 in the first contested bout of the match. The Ducks won the remaining eight bouts, however. Gazza added an 8-5 decision against Merchant Marine, and in the next match sophomore Kevin Homan beat the first-period buzzer with a pin to put Muhlenberg up 9-6. Again, though, that would be the last of the Mule wins. Click above to see video of the two pins. Click here for box scores.

It had been a long time since the Muhlenberg women’s basketball team returned home from a Centennial Conference road game with that empty feeling.

The Mules had their remarkable 19-game CC

McKeon is the 10th different Mule to record a 30-point game and the first since Chili last year. Before last season, Muhlenberg had only one 30-point effort in the previous 16 campaigns.

road winning streak snapped with a 73-66 loss at Johns Hopkins. The team’s last loss away from home in league play came at Dickinson in the 2007-08 season.

This setback was important for more than historical reasons. Muhlenberg (14-3, 11-2) dropped back into a virtual three-way tie for first in the CC with McDaniel (12-2) and Gettysburg (12-2) as the regular season heads for its final three weeks.

The back-and-forth game at Hopkins featured many swings of momentum, but two things were constant: the scoring of junior Kelly McKeon and sophomore Alexandra Chili. The duo combined for all 27 of the Mules’ first-half points and 56 of their 66 for the game. McKeon scored a career-high 32 points, and Chili finished with 24.

The Blue Jays (11-7, 9-5) received more balanced scoring and had an overwhelming 49-32 rebounding advantage in snapping a 10-game losing streak to Muhlenberg.

After jumping on top 18-10, the Mules went cold from the field, scoring just one field goal in an eight-minute span while the Blue Jays went on a 19-2 run to open up a nine-point lead.

Hopkins led 37-27 at halftime, but Muhlenberg stormed back, needing less than four minutes to reclaim the edge with a 16-4 blitz. The Mules appeared to be pulling away when they went up 49-42 with 11:32 to play, only to go another seven minutes without making a field goal. By that time the Blue Jays led 63-54.

Muhlenberg closed to within five in the final minute, but Hopkins held on for the win.

In addition to her 32 points, McKeon had eight rebounds, six assists and four steals. Her previous career best was 25 points in the Mules’ “Sweet 16” loss to Brandeis last year.
Click here for box score.
Click here for complete stats.