Berk, Tide Spook Owls
Karen Berk '08 scored a career-high 14 points while Jen Stevenson '06 and Ali Wolff '05 added nine points apiece to lead Swarthmore to a 64-32 victory over Bryn Mawr in Tarble Pavilion on Thursday night.
Swarthmore held a 12-10 lead with 7:56 remaining in the first half when Stevenson banked in a three-pointer to push the lead to five. Debra Farrelly '06 knocked down a jumper off a feed from Ashley Brandt '07 and Kristen Lee '05 hit a jumper of her own to finish off the quick 7-0 run for a 19-10 Swarthmore lead.
The Garnet, on the strength of five points from Berk, ended the half on a 13-6 run. Erica Lukoski '08 gave Swarthmore a 30-16 lead at intermission by scoring two of her career-high five points on an elbow jumper with 27 seconds left.
Radiance Walters '06 ignited the Garnet offensive attack at the start of the second half, assisting on a Lee lay-up and scoring all of her six points to push the Swarthmore lead to 38-19 with 15:54 remaining.
Amy Johnson scored two of her game-high 17 points to end the Garnet run only to see Swarthmore rattle off 14 unanswered points, pushing the lead to 53-23.
The Garnet scoring consisted of two Stevenson three-pointers, a pair of free throws from Laura Popovics '08, and three buckets from Berk.
Johnson nailed a three-pointer from three feet beyond the arc to end the Bryn Mawr drought. Berk answered with a lay-up, Lukoski sank her first career three-pointer, and Kristen Traband '08 sank two free throws to give Swarthmore a 60-32 lead, their largest of the night.
The Garnet got a career-high nine rebounds from Cara Tigue, making her the first start of her Swarthmore career. The Garnet also got a career-highs in boards from Lee (eight) and Brandt (four)
Swarthmore (6-6, 3-4 CC) lowered their conference-leading scoring defense to 49.1 points allowed per game, good for 13th in the nation. The Garnet held a 55-31 advantage on the boards, increasing their season rebounding margin to 9.8, tops in the Centennial Conference and 11th in Division III.
Up next for Swarthmore will be the Bullets from Gettysburg College. The two squads will square off in Tarble Pavilion at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 15th.