SWARTHMORE, Pa. – Junior Alyssa Isler (New Hope, Pa./New Hope-Solebury) scored on a backdoor cut with seven seconds left to lift the Gettysburg College women's basketball team past Centennial Conference leader Swarthmore College 55-54 inside Tarble Pavilion on Saturday afternoon.
Swarthmore (15-3, 11-2 CC) defeated Gettysburg (13-5, 10-3 CC) in the first meeting this season 53-52 as Katie Lytle knocked down a pair of free throws with only five seconds left. The Bullets returned the favor on Saturday as the team earned its ninth win in its last 10 games and cut the Garnet's lead in the conference standings to just one game.
Isler was only 1-for-14 against Swarthmore this season before receiving a bounce pass from freshman Jessica Porter (Narberth, Pa./Lower Merion) on the left side of the lane and converting a left-handed lay-up. The Garnet had a chance to win the game, but Elle Larsen missed a contested lay-up off the back of the rim with three seconds left and Gettysburg sophomore Jenna Swope (Warminster, Pa./Archbishop Wood) came up with the rebound.
The stage was set for Isler's heroics thanks in large part to fellow junior Cori Younghans (Succasunna, N.J./Roxbury) who scored 11 of her career-high 16 points in the second period. Junior Caroline Murphy (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) posted 10 points and seven rebounds before fouling out with just over one minute remaining. Porter tallied five dimes and 10 rebounds to go with four points.
Larsen finished with a strong game for the Garnet, scoring a game-high 23 points while going 9-of-14 from the field. Lytle posted a double-double with 12 points and 11 boards and added five steals.
Saturday's affair featured 15 lead changes and five ties. The Garnet looked strong early with a pair of Lytle free throws giving the hosts an 11-2 advantage eight minutes into the game.
The Bullets came back with a 7-0 run and later in the half, took a 23-22 lead on a lay-up by freshman Emily Duggan (Marmora, N.J./Ocean City) with 58 seconds left. Lytle would force another lead change with a lay-up of her own, but Duggan came through with a jumper just before the buzzer to give Gettysburg a 25-24 halftime advantage.
Trailing by one early in the second period, the Bullets mounted a 9-2 run capped by a three-pointer by Younghans to take their largest lead of the game at 42-36 with 9:40 to play.
The teams would trade blows back-and-forth inside the final 1:30. Lytle coaxed Murphy into her fifth foul at 1:12 and knocked down a pair of free throws to tie the game at 51-51. Junior Katie Earley (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Trinity) regained the lead for the visitors with a lay-up off a feed from Porter with 47 seconds left, but Larsen answered with an old-fashioned three-point play to put Swarthmore in front 54-53 with 26 seconds on the clock.
Gettysburg finished with a 42-36 advantage on the glass. The Bullets shot 37.5 percent from the floor (21-for-56) while holding Swarthmore to 32.3 percent (20-for-62). The Gettysburg bench came through in a big way, out-scoring the Garnet reserves 28-4.
Younghans finished 5-for-9 from the floor and 4-for-4 at the free throw line. She knocked down all but one of five second-half field goal attempts. Earley, Isler, and Duggan each posted six points with the former adding six rebounds.
Gettysburg resumes action with a road trip to Haverford College on Tuesday, Jan. 29, at 7 p.m. The Bullets defeated the Fords 47-36 on Jan. 19.