BETHLEHEM, Pa. – In a back-and-forth rivalry battle, the Greyhound trio of Alexis Wright, Danielle Brogan and Katie O'Rourke tilted the scales in the second half to give the Moravian College women's basketball team a 73-68 victory over Muhlenberg College on Tuesday night in Johnston Hall.
The Greyhounds (5-1) won their fifth game in a row by erasing an eight-point deficit in the first half, and opening up their post offense by draining nine three-pointers, including a career-high six treys by Brogan (23 points on 8-of-17 shooting, eight rebounds).
O'Rourke, who scored 18 of her 19 points in the second half, drained one of those three-pointers with 6:30 remaining in the game to give the Hounds a 58-54 lead, which they would not relinquish. Brogan had the dagger with 1:13 remaining, hitting one of her six from beyond the arc to give her squad a 71-65 lead.
"You have to shoot it when you feel it," said Brogan, a senior guard. "The biggest problem is when you think too much. On that shot in one of our last possessions, it was one of those times when I wasn't thinking. Katie had a great kick out and they were all focused on her, so I was open for the shot."
Wright, who scored her fourth double-double of the season with 18 points and 11 rebounds, went on her typical dominant stretch late in the second half, netting back-to-back layups to give Moravian a 66-58 lead, its biggest of the contest, with 4:10 remaining. O'Rourke converted four free throws in the final seven minutes to help hold the lead.
"It's a big confidence booster for us," said O'Rourke, a senior point guard. "We haven't been playing too crisp lately. We've been grinding a lot of games out. Especially against a team like Muhlenberg, who is traditionally a great program, it feels great to come out with a win."
Moravian overcame another slow start in a game that eventually saw 10 ties and 10 lead changes. A three-point play by Wright opened the game with a 3-0 Moravian advantage, but the Hounds didn't take another lead until 5:16 left in the first half when Brogan drained a three-pointer for the 19-18 lead.
Brogan would hit two more from distance before halftime and the Greyhounds took a 31-30 lead into the intermission.
"I found my shot," said Brogan, who scored a career-high 26 points with four treys in the Greyhounds' last win against DeSales. "My coach and teammates made me feel much better about shooting leading into these last two games. They know when I need the confidence booster, and they gave it to me. It was helpful and allowed me to focus on hitting my shots."
The second half was a see-saw battle with six ties in the first 13 minutes of the final period. Wright went 6-of-8 from the free throw line on Tuesday, including two to stretch the lead to 60-56 in the second half. Senior forward Laura Jordan made her lone bucket of the game count with 5:42 remaining to extend the lead to 62-56.
"We had different players step up at different times and we did just enough to win," said head coach Mary Beth Spirk. "We made plays down the stretch. We may have gotten fortunate that the shots went in, and also a little unlucky that some other shots did not go in. It's a big win for us at home in front of a nice crowd."
One of those fortunate shots was a circus-shot by Wright with 4:10 remaining, when the junior forward somehow converted a scooping layup beyond the rim near the baseline to give Moravian its biggest lead of the contest.
Senior guard Alyssa Hann, who was shooting 47 percent from the free throw line before Tuesday night, missed her first four from the charity stripe against Muhlenberg. Hann was fouled in the double-bonus with 25 seconds left and went to the line to attempt to ice the game. She did just that, sinking both freebies to set the final score at 73-68.
With the victory, Moravian College takes a 6-5 lead in the 2013-14 Matte Award battle, the year-long, multi-sport contest between the archrivals.
Muhlenberg was paced by junior forward Leanna Tallamy's double-double of 29 points (10-of-19 from the floor) and 13 rebounds, both game highs. Senior forward Erin Laney scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Mules' second double-double of the game.
The Mules dominated the battle in the paint with a 42-18 advantage. Wright made up for a game-high 10 turnovers with three steals, three blocks and converting her highest free-throw percentage this season.
Moravian returns to action with the advent of Landmark Conference play on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 4 p.m. at Juniata College, who is ranked No. 23 in NCAA Division III by D3hoops.com. The Greyhounds return home on Monday, Dec. 9 against Centenary (N.J.) College at 7 p.m. in Johnston Hall.