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BY LAUREN WALKER

In print | February 21, 2008

The women’s basketball team fell short in two hard-fought battles this week. Last Wednesday, they took on the Mules of Muhlenberg College at home in Tarble Pavilion, and on Saturday they traveled to Gettysburg College to face the Bullets in Bream Gym.

Unfortunately, neither fight resulted in a win, bringing the Garnet’s record to 3-13 in conference and 6-16 overall.

The Garnet started the game against Muhlenberg on a high note, taking an early 9-5 lead, but the Mules quickly regrouped and answered back, going ahead 11-9 with about 15 minutes left in the half. The Mules held the lead for the remainder of the half, extending the margin to as many as 15 points.

Muhlenberg’s strong shooting ability greatly contributed to their ability to rack up the points. “We had a tough time stopping their outside shooters,” said standout Kathryn Stockbower ’11. In the second half, the Mules maintained the pressure, continuing to hold the lead and finishing the game with a 20 point margin of victory as they defeated the Garnet women 77-57.

Despite the loss, there were once again several impressive performances by the Garnet. Stockbower continued to own the boards for Swarthmore, bringing in her 18th double-double of the season, solidifying her spot at the top of the Centennial Conference in that category. She finished the game with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Captain Pam Costello ’10 scored a season high 16 points, while also tallying three assists and five rebounds.

Captain Karen Berk ’08 also had an impressive game, bringing down seven rebounds and contributing 11 points. Summer Miller-Walfish ’11, who currently leads the conference in blocked shots, stuffed two more opponents on Wednesday, bringing her season total to 44 blocks. This feat is enough to tie the school record held by Berk.

On Saturday, the Garnet hoped to bounce back from the Wednesday defeat, but after another hard-fought battle, came up short against the Bullets, 84-72. It was a closer game than the final scoreboard suggested.

The Garnet’s abnormally low free-throw percentage was an important factor in the loss. Coach Renee DeVarney thought the team played well, however: “Against Gettysburg we played a pretty good game overall - we just killed ourselves with our missed free throws. We lost by 12 points and missed 17 free throws in the game. Free throw shooting is usually a strength for us.”

Melissa Grigsby ’09 agreed that the team played a good game, but that the missed foul shots were a huge factor. “In the Gettysburg game, we hung with them for most of the game. We were only down by seven and we matched their offensive pace. Something that really hindered us, however, was our free throw percentage. As a team we were 41 percent from the charity stripe, and that prevented us from really making a solid run.”

Grigsby tallied a season high of 14 points, including a long half-court shot to end the first half. “It’s the longest shot I’ve ever seen made in my 20 years of coaching!” said DeVarney. “It gave us great momentum going into the second half.”

The game also brought yet another outstanding performance from Stockbower, who raked in another double-double (her 19th), with team-high 19 points and 12 rebounds. Berk also tallied 14 points for the Garnet, and she brought down eight rebounds.

The two games, although neither were official wins, brought with them their own small victories for Swarthmore. The team was successfully able to minimize turnovers, and, according to Berk, “the team has really been focused on cutting down the opponents’ offensive rebounds” and “making smarter decisions on offense.” The team was able to do these things much better in the games this past week.

The Garnet is playing the final week of the season with confidence. They played at Washington College last night, but the finish was too late for this printing. They will play against Haverford College at home on Saturday for their final conference game and Senior Day.

“I think we all would like to finish the season on a high note,” said Stockbower. “Washington and Haverford are both beatable teams, but we are going to have to come out and play our best if we want to end up with victories.”

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