Swarthmore Falls to Diplomats
SWARTHMORE, Pa. -- The Swarthmore women's basketball team (4-6, 1-3 CC) fell to Franklin & Marshall (7-4, 3-2 CC) in a 66-57 Centennial Conference game in Tarble Pavilion on Wednesday night.
Kathryn Stockbower ’11 (Ft. Washington, Pa. / Upper Dublin) had her ninth doubled-double in a row as she scored 26 points and had 16 rebounds--she is the leading rebounder in the Centennial Conference with 13.8 per game. The freshman forward also went 10-for-10 at the line in tonight’s game. Also adding to the Garnet offense was Berk who nine points and dished out five assists.
Diplomat junior Sarah Meisenberg (Severna Park, Md. / Severn School) had a game high 29 points, nine rebounds and five assists while teammate Amanda Miceli (North Caldwell, N.J. / West Essex) had nine points.
The Garnet started the night’s game with a five-point run with lay ups from Karen Berk ’08 (Havertown, Pa. / Haverford) and Stockbower was fouled to complete a three-point play.
The Diplomats took a three-point lead following a lay up by Franklin & Marshall junior Cara Andolfi (North Arlington, N.J. / Montclair), who was assisted by the Centennial Conference Player of the Week Meisenberg.
Garnet guard Laura Popovics ’08 (Gorham, Maine / Gorham) sank a three-pointer at 9:37 to make the score 16-12. The Garnet got within two points after a jumper from freshman Summer Miller-Walfish (San Jose, N.M. / West Las Vegas) before the Diplomats went on an unanswered 8-point run making the score 24-14. After Ceylan Bodur ’11 (Istanbul, Turkey / Robert College) made a lay up at 5:09, Swarthmore started their comeback from a 10-point deficit. The Garnet tied up the game again with 58 seconds left on the clock after Stockbower picked up a offensive rebound and make a lay up. Swarthmore ended the half up one-point, their third lead of the game at 27-26.
In the first half, Swarthmore made 11 second-chance points while making 22 points inside the paint. Franklin & Marshall’s bench outscored Swarthmore 14 to 6.
The second half started with some back and forth play but Miceli, who averages 13.5 points per game, made two foul shots to fuel her team’s 8-2 run. At 10:22, the Diplomat offense took off when Meisenberg scored her sixth point in less than two minutes pushing the score to 50-37, Franklin & Marshall’s largest lead of the game (13 points).
Stockbower was fouled by Franklin & Marshall senior Brittany Braxton (Rockland, N.Y. / Nanuet) at 8:17 which helped the Garnet as they tried to chip away at the 50-40 score. A final serge from the Garnet offense came at 4:57 following a lay up from Berk—the Garnet were within five points (57-52). To close the game Franklin & Marshall sophomore Beth Holt (Lancaster, Pa. / Lancaster Catholic) made two free throws to bring her total to nine points on the night.
Swarthmore continues their Centennial Conference schedule as they travel to Dickinson on Saturday, Jan. 12 for a 2:00 tip-off.