SWARTHMORE, Pa. – McDaniel built a 12-point lead in the second half en route to a 58-51 victory over Swarthmore in Centennial Conference (CC) women's basketball action on Saturday.

Emma Wingerd (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) led the Green Terror (22-1, 15-1 CC) with 14 points and nine rebounds while Lindsey Nichols (Wilmington, Del./St. Mark's) added 14 points and eight rebounds.

Elle Larsen led the Garnet (8-15, 4-12 CC) with 23 points and 14 rebounds.

After Larsen staked the hosts to a 2-0 lead just 26 seconds into the game, Wingerd knotted the game 24 seconds later.

A Nichols steal-and-basket put McDaniel in front for good with 18:13 on the clock.

Six straight points stretched the advantage to 12-5 with 9:35 showing before back-to-back Swarthmore baskets from Abbey Deckard and Jessica Jowdy trimmed the margin to five nearly two minutes later.

A Jasmine Smith (Baltimore, Md./Baltimore Polytechnic Institute) 3-pointer and Wingerd layup pushed the lead to double digits.

Baskets from four different Garnet players closed the margin to 19-18 with 4:11 remaining before a Deckard 3-pointer knotted the game at 23-all with 1:06 to play in the first half.

A Wingerd jumper just before the halftime buzzer put the visitors in front, 27-25.

Nichols stretched the lead to 36-30 with 14:45 to play before Swarthmore drew as close as three.

Clinging to a 4-37 lead, Brittney Davis (Laurel, Md./St. Vincent Pallotti) drained a 3-pointer with 10:46 remaining to spark an 11-2 run over the next 3:05.

The Garnet whittled the deficit to single digits but could get no closer than five down the stretch.

The Green Terror enters the final week of the regular season with a two-game lead on Muhlenberg in the loss column and need just one win over its final two games or a Mules loss to secure the top seed in the CC tournament.

McDaniel returns to action at home against Johns Hopkins on Wednesday. Game time is 6 p.m.

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