After a wild week, women’s basketball has positive look towards the future

After a dominating performance in the annual Scotty Wood tournament, Muhlenberg College’s women’s basketball team has experienced an eventful fortnight of Centennial conference play. This week’s matchups against Dickinson College and Johns Hopkins University were massively divergent; on December 1st against Dickinson the Mules’ offense was static and underwhelming, but it then flowed with considerable motion two days later against Hopkins.

“Dickinson was a really intense game” said forward Christina Manning, “and everyone worked so hard during all of the crazy overtimes, but the cards just weren't in our favor in that third one.”

Muhlenberg’s game against Dickinson ended in a triple overtime loss, 74-71. On a mild night in Carlisle, PA – a 100 mile excursion west of ‘Berg – jump shots, layups, and free throws refused to fall. Only one Muhlenberg player shot 50% or more from the field; forward Chelsea Gary went 5-for-9 with 10 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 blocks. Gary was one of three Mules to foul out of the contest, along with fellow starters Maggie Zerbe and Sara Dilly. Gary, Dilly, Manning, and Brandi Vallely kept a struggling offense afloat, scoring 59 of Muhlenberg’s 71 points.

The effort, however, wasn’t enough to knock off Dickinson. Against a faster paced team, Dickinson slowed down the pace and forced their way to the foul line, out-marking Muhlenberg on free throw attempts 37 to 10. Dickinson is now 6-1 overall and undefeated in conference play.

The loss, however, wasn’t without its moments for the Mules. Without a couple of last second three pointers, Dickinson would have ended the game much sooner. A three by Sara Dilly with 2 seconds left in the first OT tied the game at 59, and Brandi Vallely – who played all but 15 seconds of the game – sank a tying three from the wing with 0.8 seconds remaining in the second OT. Vallely went 6-for-18 from beyond the arc on the night, and the Mules heaved an astounding 51 three-pointers in 55 minutes of play.

The Mules, however, learned a lot from such a tough loss.

“Although we lost to Dickinson,” said Maggie Zerbe, “it was the kind of game that allowed us to grow as a team. We were able to really regroup afterwards and come into the Johns Hopkins game ready to play.”

And so they did.

After averaging 1.29 points per minute at Dickinson, the Mules were far more efficient at home – they averaged 2.15 points per minute in a faster game. ‘Berg shot 16 percentage points higher from the field, and made a better effort to earn free throws – they went 18-for-24 in the game. Muhlenberg won the rebound battle, shot 8-for-16 from three-point-land, and boasted a balanced scoring attack. Seven ‘Berg players scored 6 points or more, with Vallely leading the way with 23. She also came 3 rebounds and 2 assists short of a triple double, which would have been the sixth of Vallely’s career.

“Everyone had such a high intensity [against Hopkins],” said Manning. “We were moving the ball and people were hitting their shots.”

The Mules defeated Hopkins 86-72. After jumping out to a 28-10 lead at the end of the first quarter, the home team didn’t look back. After an upsetting loss on the road, Muhlenberg appeared to be back on track.

Oh, and Hopkins only led once all game – 1-0 with 9:26 left in the first quarter. How about that?

All the Mules can do now is look to the future. With a long season ahead and 16 conference games remaining, the team understands that they still have a lot of work to do.

“Beating Johns Hopkins was a gratifying team win,” said Chelsea Gary, “and while we are happy with how we are playing right now, there is always still work to do and areas to improve. We are excited to see how we progress as the season goes on and as we get more games under our belt.”