Swarthmore Post Players Rough Up St. Joe’s at Seven Sisters
HAVERFORD, Pa. - Swarthmore's frontcourt duo of Karen Berk '08 and Pamela Costello '10 (above) combined for 33 points and 30 rebounds to lead the Garnet to a 53-41 victory over St. Joseph's (CT) in first round action at the annual Seven Sisters Tournament in the Gooding Arena on Friday night.
The Garnet (2-3) advance to the second round and will face Smith (MA) College on Saturday, Dec. 2 at 4:00 p.m. The Pioneers defeated host Haverford 49-47 in earlier action. St. Joseph's will face Haverford tomorrow at 12:00 p.m.
Junior forward Kristen Traband got the Garnet women rolling with a lay-up in traffic at 13:01 to make the score 8-5 Swarthmore. The Blue Jays answered with a fast-break jumper by guard Araya Koonce at 12:45, cutting the Garnet lead to one. Swarthmore continued to the push the ball in transition, looking for open holes in the St. Joe's zone. Garnet senior wing Jess Fuhr ran to an open spot on the left wing and buried a triple at 9:02 to extend Swarthmore's lead to 15-10. Swarthmore maintained the five-point advantage into halftime, getting a pair of free throws each from freshman forward Pamela Costello and Fuhr.
The Garnet dominated on the glass in the first half (30-22), grabbing nine boards on the offensive end; Costello and Berk led all scorers with six points each.
Swarthmore opened the second half with a flourish - Costello nailed a three-pointer and then hit Berk inside for an easy bucket and a 28-18 lead at 18:10. Berk made a pair of free throws at 10:59 to give the Garnet their largest lead of the night, 39-26.
The Blue Jays generated much of their offense from offensive rebounds, collecting 12 second-chance opportunities in the second half. St. Joseph's Helena Charron trailed on a Blue Jays fast-break and picked up an easy bucket off an offensive rebound to cut Swarthmore's lead to 44-34. The usual suspects responded for Swarthmore - Costello pumped in another triple and Berk followed up with a 15-foot jumper at 4:15 to push the Garnet lead back to 49-36 with 4:15 to play. Swarthmore effectively broke St. Joseph's press down the stretch to wrap up their second win of the young season.
Berk put up her fifth double-double of the season, scoring a game-high 17 points and 19 rebounds while contributing four blocks and two steals. Costello had her best game to date, shooting a perfect 6-for-6 from the field for a career-high 16 points to go along with 11 boards. It is the first double-double of her brief college career. Swarthmore sophomore Melissa Grigsby posted an impressive all-around effort with 10 points, six rebounds, four assists, and three steals in 39 minutes.
The Blue Jays (2-3) were led by Sam Krupa's 11 points while Koonce finished with nine points and five assists. Kerri Hallberg was tops on SJC with 11 rebounds.