Bullets Cruise Past Swarthmore
SWARTHMORE, Pa. - The Gettysburg women's basketball team opened up an 18-point lead at half and never looked back on their way to a 71-38 Centennial victory at Swarthmore Thursday afternoon in Tarble Pavilion. Courtney Fields led the Bullets (9-5 overall, 6-2 CC) with 15 points while Nicole Dobranski added 12 points and seven rebounds. Swarthmore junior Karen Berk took top scoring honors for the Garnet (4-9 overall, 1-7 CC) with 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
Gettysburg scored the first eight points of the first half, using a three-quarter court press to turn the Garnet over. The Bullets extended the advantage to 18-4 at 14:34 following a Megan Hartman jumper.
The Garnet responded with five unanswered points on a three-pointer by junior guard Laura Popovics and two free throws by Berk to cut the lead to 18-9 Gettysburg at 11:44. It would be as close as Swarthmore would come as this afternoon. Gettysburg continued to convert turnovers into points, building a lead that grew as large as 20 (37-17, 3:59) at one point, taking a 39-21 advantage into the break.
The Bullets shot 44.7% in the first half and were led by Dobranski with 10 points on 5 of 5 shooting and Hartman chipped in eight points. Berk led Swarthmore with nine points and nine rebounds while also collecting two blocks and two steals.
The second half saw effective defensive pressure by Gettysburg and the visiting team rode a commanding lead on the backboards (59-34) to a key conference win. 10 different players scored for the Bullets, including 10 points, five rebounds, and five assists from Hartman.
Popovics came off the bench for Swarthmore to put in a season-high 11 points and three steals while senior Jess Fuhr added eight points and three assists. Berk collected her Centennial-leading 10th double-double of the season, shooting 9 of 11 from the free throw line while adding three blocks---the junior leads the Centennial with 2.3 blocks per game.
The Garnet travel to Lancaster, Pa. on Saturday, January 13 for a 2:00 p.m game at Franklin & Marshall.