The 17th-ranked Gettysburg College (18-1, 14-0 CC) women’s basketball team registered its 18th consecutive victory, breaking the program and Centennial Conference record as the Bullets defeated Swarthmore College (11-8, 8-6 CC) on Saturday afternoon inside Bream Gym.
Top Performers – Gettysburg
– Meredith Brown ’20 (Landisburg, Pa./West Perry) – 19 points (season-high), 8-of-11 FG, 2 rebounds
– Olivia Matto ’23 (East Petersburg, Pa./Hill School) – 10 points, 3 rebounds
– Kiera Cesareo ’20 (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) – 8 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals
– Emma Hahner ’20 (Forest Hill, Md./C. Milton Wright) – 8 points, 7 rebounds
Top Performers – Swarthmore
– Faith Nation – 23 points, 8-of-13 FG, 4 rebounds
– Kim Kockenmeister – 10 points, 6 rebounds
How It Happened…
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First Quarter
- The first frame started neck-to-neck with two lead changes and two ties as neither team led by more than three-points until the final 37 seconds. After the Garnet tied the game at 13-all by a Colleen Anderson trey with 1:21 on the clock, Brown made a lay-up as well as Cesareo to put the Bullets in front 17-13.
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Second Quarter
- Cesareo opened the second frame with the first bucket, and Hahner followed with one of her own to increase the advantage by eight (21-13). The margin slowly disappeared as Swarthmore scored seven-straight to come within one. Another lay-up by Hahner pushed it back to a three-point lead, but a three-pointer from Kendall Tribus tied it up at 23-23. That was the last time the Garnet tied the game as the Bullets triggered a 12-6 run to pull out on top 35-29 at intermission.
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Third Quarter
- Gettysburg’s margin blossomed to double-figures for the first time all game as Brown made a free throw and sophomore Carly Rice (Pennington, N.J./The Pennington School) drilled a three-pointer with 9:18 on the clock. The edge went back down to eight as Faith Nation made a lay-up for the Garnet, but the double-figure lead would be back in force as the Bullets held a 15-point margin with 1:40 left. After that, the Garnet tallied six consecutive points to make it a nine-point game, but Matto drained a pair of free throws to make it 55-44 heading into the fourth.
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Fourth Quarter
- After a made free throw by Kim Kockenmeister, the Gettysburg defense held Swarthmore scoreless for nearly three minutes, which brought the lead to 18 with under five remaining. The largest advantage of the afternoon came at the 2:42 marker for the Bullets, and the 17th-ranked team in Division III held on to claim their 18th consecutive win. The Bullets out-scored the Garnet 23-18, shooting a quarter best 60 percent (9-of-15) from the field.
By the Numbers
- Gettysburg moved three spots in the Women’s Basketball Coaches Associations (WBCA) Top 25 Poll, ranking No. 17 while staying at No. 22 in the D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll.
- For the first time in program history, the Bullets registered 18 consecutive victories. The previous school record was 17-straight, which was done by the 1984-85 squad. For the CC, the longest winning streak was 17, which was done by McDaniel College from Dec. 3, 2009, until Feb. 8, 2010.
- Gettysburg holds the top spot in the CC standings as Haverford College (15-3, 12-1 CC) is second, Johns Hopkins University (11-7, 8-5 CC) is third, Swarthmore College (11-8, 8-6 CC) is fourth, and Muhlenberg College (9-9, 7-6 CC) is fifth.
- Gettysburg canned 29-of-58 (50 percent) from the field, which was the eighth time this season the Bullets have shot over 50 percent. The Orange and Blue also went 17-of-20 (85 percent) from the free throw line.
- The Garnet shot 31.7 percent (20-of-63) from the floor, 44.4 percent (4-of-9) from three-point land, and 72 percent (18-of-25) from the charity stripe.
- Gettysburg won the rebounding battle, 45-31.
- Brown produced her second-straight double-figure scoring output.
Where the Series Stands Now
Gettysburg leads the all-time series against Swarthmore, 37-9. The Bullets have won the last ten meetings since a Garnet victory in 2015.
Next Up
Gettysburg travels to Ursinus College (7-12, 6-8 CC) for another Centennial Conference affair.
This story was originally posted on the Gettysburg College Website.