WESTMINSTER, Md. – Melissa Grigsby
finished with a team high-tying 16 points, including the
game-winning 3-pointer as time expired to lift Swarthmore to a
71-69 victory over McDaniel in the Centennial Conference (CC)
women's basketball opener for both teams.
Trailing 69-68 after the final two of Ali Moreland's
(Davidsonville, Md./South River) game-high 17 points came
at the free throw line with 10.7 seconds on the clock,
Ceylan Bodur found her way out of a double-team in
the corner and found Grigsby wide-open at the top of the arc for
the game-winning shot.
Kathryn Stockbower added 16 points for the Garnet
(1-3, 1-0 CC) while grabbing a program-record 24 rebounds to finish
with a double-double for the 14th straight
game.
Ashley Lyles (Laurel, Md./St. Vincent Pallotti)
and Sally Grace (Catonsville, Md./Mount de Sales
Academy) finished with 12 points apiece for the Green
Terror (1-3, 0-1 CC), who found itself in an 11-point deficit early
in the second half before a 16-4 run gave the hosts a 41-40 lead
with 12:27 remaining in the game.
After two Grigsby free throws with 18:09 on the clock gave
Swarthmore its largest lead at 36-25, Grace drilled a 3-pointer in
the corner with 17:31 remaining.
A Summer Miller-Walfish jumper pushed the lead
back to 10 before a single Grace free throw and an Emma
Adams (Oneida, N.Y./Oneida) fast-break bucket of a Grace
steal-and-dish pulled McDaniel within 38-31 a minute
later.
Trailing 40-31 off two Bodur free throws, Moreland hit a jumper on
the break with 14:54 to play, sparking an 8-0 run over the next 2
minutes, 27 seconds to give the Green Terror its first lead since
2-0.
Knotted at 47, four Grace free throws gave McDaniel a four-point
edge with 8:41 showing.
A Lyles basket-and-foul with 1:29 on the clock gave the hosts a
67-61 lead before Genny Pezzola hit the second of
two free throws 11 seconds later and Stockbower drained two free
throws with 44.2 seconds on the clock to trim the deficit in
half.
Off a Green Terror turnover on the ensuing inbounds pass,
Pamela Costello nailed her second 3-pointer of the
game from the left corner to knot the game at 67 with 40.3 seconds
to play.
A single Bodur free throw gave the Garnet a one-point lead with
26.5 to play before Moreland's two free throws gave her team
its final lead.
Trailing 2-0 on a Moreland basket off the opening tip, Swarthmore
reeled off the next seven points.
Clinging to a 9-8 lead after a Whitney Snoops
(Millersville, Md./Archbishop Spaulding) layup with 13:56
to play in the opening half, the Garnet held McDaniel without a
field goal for the next 10 minutes, 23 seconds, opening up a lead
of as many as 10 during the 15-7 stretch.
McDaniel closed the gap to 30-24 at halftime before giving up six
of the second half's first seven points.
The Green Terror returns to action at home against Juniata on
Thursday. Game time is 7 p.m.
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