ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Junior Emily Gibbons (Annapolis, Md./Severn School) broke the program record for rebounds in a season, but the effort wasn't enough to lift Gettysburg College to a win as Muhlenberg College used a big second half to pull off an 84-65 victory in Centennial Conference women's basketball action inside Memorial Hall Thursday night.
Gettysburg (15-7, 11-6 CC) remained in fourth place in the conference standings, one-half game ahead of idle Ursinus College (13-10, 11-7 CC). Muhlenberg College (16-7, 13-5 CC) maintained its hold on second place in the standings.
Gibbons posted 15 points and 10 rebounds to extend her program record for double-doubles in a single-season to 18. It was also her 10th straight game with a double-double, leaving her two shy of the Centennial record held by Johns Hopkins University's Julie Anderson. She broke the Gettysburg mark for single-season rebounds set by Jay Hodge '03 in 2002-03 with her eighth carom with 6:45 remaining and snagged rebound No. 300 on the offensive glass with 55 seconds to go.
Gettysburg came out firing in the first quarter, tying the program record with 27 points in the frame. After the Mules took an 8-6 lead on a three-pointer by Sara Dilly, the Bullets mounted a 13-2 run to take a 19-10 edge with 3:19 left in the frame.
Leading 27-19 after the opening quarter, the visitors tacked on the first six points of the second period and jumped ahead 33-19 on a jumper by freshman Emma Hahner (Forest Hill, Md./C. Milton Wright). Muhlenberg didn't let the deficit get any bigger and managed to slice it back down to eight (42-34) by halftime.
Muhlenberg established control in the second half, out-scoring Gettysburg 50-23 over the final 20 minutes. After canning 17-of-32 (53.1 percent) of its field goal attempts in the first half, the Bullets hit just 7-of-30 (23.3 percent) in the final two quarters. The Mules, meanwhile, hit 17-of-33 (51.5 percent) of their shots in the second half. Muhlenberg overtook Gettysburg on a jumper by Sara Dilly that made it 50-49 with 3:58 to go in the third quarter.
The Mules extended a four-point heading into the fourth quarter to 13 with an 11-2 run to start the frame. The Bullets trimmed the deficit back down to seven (68-61) on a three-point play by freshman Kiera Cesareo (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) with 4:22 to play, but Brandi Vallely came right back with a lay-up to push it back to nine. Muhlenberg ended the game on a 10-0 run.
Sophomore Emma Dorshimer (Jenkintown, Pa./Jenkintown) turned in 17 points for Gettysburg, while junior Kendra Meredith (Boyds, Md./Northwest) and freshman Ashley Gehrin (Chest, N.J./West Morris Mendham) each finished with nine points. Hahner tallied eight points and four rebounds.
Chelsea Gary logged 24 points and 10 rebounds and was perfect in 10 trips to the free throw line. Rachel Plotke canned five three-pointers on the way to 19 points, while Vallely dropped in 17 points and 12 assists. Dilly finished with a dozen points.
Gettysburg hosts Bryn Mawr College (2-20, 0-17 CC) this Saturday at 2 p.m.