ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Muhlenberg built an 11-point lead midway through the second half en route to a 74-67 victory over McDaniel in Centennial Conference (CC) women's basketball action on Wednesday.

Lindsey Nichols (Wilmington, Del./St. Mark's) recorded a career-high 28 points and added her second career double-double with 10 rebounds to lead the Green Terror (9-1, 4-1 CC), who suffered its first defeat of the season after a program-best 9-0 start. For Nichols, the 28 points was the most by a McDaniel player since Whitney Snoops tallied 29 against Goucher on Jan. 25, 2011.

Leanna Tallamy led the Mules (5-5, 4-2 CC) with 14 points and 16 rebounds while Nicole Pepe added 17 points.

Pepe hit a 3-pointer on Muhlenberg's first possession to stake the hosts to an early advantage.

Trailing 5-2, Alyssa March (Fallston, Md./Fallston) hit a layup and Nichols canned the first of her career-best six 3-pointer to give McDaniel its only lead at 7-5 with 17:38 to play in the opening half.

Two Pepe free throws and a Laura Gregory three-point play put Muhlenberg in front 10-7 just 37 seconds later.

A Brittney Davis (Laurel, Md./St. Vincent Pallotti) 3-pointer knotted the game at 12-all with 15:55 on the clock but Hannah Rush responded with a triple of her own 1:06 later to put the hosts in front for good.

A Maggie Zerbe three-point play extended the advantage to six.

A Nichols trey and Davis free throw closed the margin to 20-18 with 9:57 showing but a Rush 3-pointer sparked an 8-0 burst that pushed the lead to double digits for the first time just two minutes later.

Four straight points from Emma Wingerd (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) at the end of the first half closed the deficit to 37-33 at the break.

Tallamy pushed the lead back to six with a layup 41 seconds into the second half before a Nichols 3-pointer made it a 39-36 game.

Eight straight points from the Mules extended the lead to 47-36 with 15:42 on the clock.

Still trailing 62-52, Nichols bookended a 12-7 stretch with 3-pointers to make it a 69-64 with 50.1 seconds to play.

Muhlenberg hit five of its six free-throw attempts in the final minute to seal the victory.

Steph Perez (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin East) added 11 points for McDaniel while March chipped in 10.

McDaniel returns to action at Haverford on Saturday. Game time is 1 p.m.

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