GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Sophomore Jenna Swope (Warminster, Pa./Archbishop Wood) connected on a three-pointer with 14 seconds left and McDaniel's final three-point attempt at the buzzer hit iron as the Gettysburg College women's basketball wrapped up the top seed in the Centennial Conference with a 43-41 win over the Green Terror inside Bream Gym on Saturday.
With the victory, Gettysburg (19-6, 16-4 CC) finishes with the best record in conference play and clinches the right to host the semifinals and championship of the Centennial Conference Tournament on Feb. 22-23. It is the first time the Bullets have claimed the top spot in the regular season and hosted the final two rounds.
With Swarthmore College (19-6, 15-5 CC) losing to Haverford College (15-9, 12-8 CC) and Muhlenberg (17-8, 14-6 CC) defeating Ursinus College (12-13, 9-11 CC) earlier in the day, Gettysburg knew all it had to do was win Saturday's affair against McDaniel (11-14, 8-12 CC). Despite handling the Green Terror 64-35 in the first meeting, Saturday's contest was anything but a foregone conclusion. McDaniel led for the majority of the second half as the hosts struggled to find their shooting touch.
The visitors held a 37-30 lead with 11:43 left in the game, but Gettysburg's defense went on lockdown, allowing just two field goals for the remainder of the contest. The Bullets took the lead following an 8-0 run as freshman Jessica Porter (Narberth, Pa./Lower Merion) grabbed an offensive rebound and put the ball back in the hoop at 5:56.
McDaniel answered right back with Rachael Rybak dropping in two of her game-high 22 points 28 seconds later. The lead changed hands once again when junior Caroline Murphy (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) knocked down an open jumper from the left elbow to set the score at 40-39 with 5:06 to play.
The two teams couldn't find the net over the next several minutes, going a combined 0-for-8 to maintain the score. The Green Terror finally broke the skid as Emma Wingerd drove baseline for a nice reverse lay-up to give the visitors a 41-40 advantage with 1:29 on the scoreboard.
Gettysburg came up empty on its next possession, but McDaniel also missed an opportunity to pad the lead in the final minute. Following timeouts by both teams with 30 seconds left, Murphy attempted a jumper which was off target. The ball went out-of-bounds along the baseline with Gettysburg retaining possession.
Swope inbounded the ball and ran to the near corner where junior Cori Younghans (Succasunna, N.J./Roxbury) fired a pass right back to her teammate. Despite coming into the game with only two made three-pointers on the year, Swope's shot was true, swishing through the net to give the Bullets the lead.
The hosts had fouls to give and they used them to break up any kid of run up the court by the Green Terror. With only five seconds left, Steph Perez eluded the defense and dished the ball to Emilee Bosley in the corner for a three-point attempt. The shot hit the side of the rim and bounced away as time expired.
Gettysburg jumped out to a 9-4 advantage just under six minutes in, but McDaniel fought back behind Rybak, who scored the team's first 13 points. With the score tied 15-15, the Green Terror mounted a 12-2 run to take a double-figure lead (27-17) with 3:30 left in the opening period.
Gettysburg countered with the final four points to pull to 27-21 at the half.
Porter finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season. Murphy added 12 points, seven rebounds, and three blocked shots and Swope turned in nine points and nine rebounds.
Team statistics were nearly even with Gettysburg shooting 27.8 percent (15-for-54) from the field and McDaniel canning 29.5 percent (18-for-61) of its attempts. Gettysburg held a 42-41 edge in rebounds. The Bullets finished 10-for-16 from the charity stripe, while the Green Terror only went to the line once.
Gettysburg will face the winner of the first-round game between Haverford and Johns Hopkins University (15-10, 13-7 CC) in one of the semifinals next Friday night. Swarthmore will battle Muhlenberg in the other semifinal with the championship slated for Saturday afternoon. The official tournament schedule will be released Monday morning.