SWARTHMORE, Pa. – Sophomore Alyssa Isler (New Hope, Pa./New Hope-Solebury) buried the game-winning three-pointer with 1.3 seconds left to lift the Gettysburg College women's basketball team to a 55-52 victory at Swarthmore College in Centennial Conference action Friday night.
Gettysburg (3-5, 2-3 CC), which did not lead in the second half until Isler's trey, ended a two-game skid with a victory in its final contest of 2011. Making her first collegiate start, Isler poured in nine second-half points, all on three-pointers, as part of a career-high 14-point effort. Senior Sara Kinsley (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield Ludlowe) added her third double-double of the season with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while sophomore Katie Earley (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Trinity) recorded 11 points off the bench.
Friday's affair went back-and-forth early with seven lead changes in the first 14 minutes of action. After Earley drilled a three-pointer to give Gettysburg a 17-16 lead at 8:26, Swarthmore (4-5, 2-4 CC) turned in the next 10 points with back-to-back free throws by Katie Lytle giving the hosts a 26-19 lead.
The Bullets rebounded before the break, netting the final five points, including a three-pointer by Isler, to pull to 28-24. The Garnet didn't let the momentum swing into the final period and took the game's first double-figure lead at 41-30 with 12:31 to play.
The lead stood at 10 with less than 10 minutes left before Kinsley, Earley, and Isler went off for Gettysburg. The trio scored 20 of the visitor's final 22 points, started by a putback by Kinsley at 9:10. Isler connected on three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to pull the Bullets to within two (49-47) with 5:40 left on the clock.
After more than two minutes without a score by either team, Kinsley broke the drought with a pair of free throws to tie the game at 49 with only 3:04 to play. Swarthmore came right back on its next possession as Kayla Moritzky tracked down an offensive rebound and knocked down a three-pointer to give the hosts a 52-49 lead with 2:40 left.
Gettysburg's defense came up big down the stretch, forcing back-to-back turnovers, but the offense couldn't capitalize. After Genny Pezzola missed a three-pointer for Swarthmore, Kinsley drew a foul to earn a trip to the line. The senior knocked down the first shot to pull the score to 52-50. The second attempt missed the mark, but Kinsley came up with the rebound and put the ball in the hoop to tie the game with 41 seconds left.
Swarthmore took only 12 seconds to put up the potential go-ahead shot with Madeline Ross missing from beyond the arc. Gettysburg grabbed the rebound and called timeout with 24 seconds left to set up Isler's game-winning shot.
Gettysburg held Swarthmore to 18-of-61 (29.5 percent) from the field while shooting 21-of-58 (36.2 percent). The visitors connected on a season-high seven shots from outside the arc and out-rebounded the Garnet 44-39.
Kinsley finished 6-of-9 from the field and 5-of-8 from the charity stripe. She added five assists and three blocked shots, moving just one block shy of Gettysburg's career mark of 147 held by 2007 graduate Katie Reilly.
Isler topped her personal scoring mark by one point thanks to a 4-of-6 effort from three-point land and a 5-of-7 shooting effort overall. Earley knocked down three triples, while freshman Sam Pagel (Harleysville, Pa./Perkiomen) added seven points off the bench.
Ross led Swarthmore with 10 points and Eliza Polli added nine points on three treys.
Gettysburg is off for the holidays until hosting its own Days Inn Tournament on Jan. 2-3. Joining the Bullets for the two-day event are the University of Scranton, Neumann College, and Messiah College. Gettysburg faces Scranton at 6 p.m. and Neumann and Messiah will square off at 8 p.m. on the opening day.