COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Lock-down defense and exceptional free-throw shooting was the perfect recipe for an upset Thursday night, as the Ursinus College women's basketball team outscored Haverford, 22-12, in the fourth quarter and pulled out a 62-55 victory over the Centennial Conference leaders. Sophomore Kaci McNeave scored a career-high 18 points to help the Bears sweep the Fords for the first time since 2011.
Senior Libby Lannon finished with 13 points and junior Rachel Guy added 12 for Ursinus, which got a number of crucial free throws from its co-captains in the final minute to preserve the victory over a red-hot Fords squad that had won a school-record nine straight games. The Bears went 16 for 17 (94.1 percent) from the foul line and made 14 of 15 at the charity stripe in the fourth quarter, and shot a season-high 45.7 percent from the field (21 for 46) against a team ranked inside the top 10 in Division III in scoring defense and field-goal percentage defense; Haverford had held 14 straight opponents under 55 points.
Trailing 51-48, freshman Lydia Konstanzer drove the right side of the lane and connected on a lay-up plus a foul, hitting the free throw to bring the eighth and final tie of the night at the 3:27 mark. The Bears got a stop on the other end, and McNeave gave them the lead for good with a swished jumper from the top of the key. Two clutch free throws by Lannon with 1:19 to play stretched the lead to four, and Guy hit a pair to make it 57-52 with 36.0 seconds showing.
Anna-Sophia Capizzi drilled a long 3-pointer to bring Haverford (13-5, 10-3) within 57-55, but Guy came through with two more pressure-packed free throws at 27.3. Samantha Wetzel misfired on a triple on the other end, with Konstanzer grabbing the rebound and sinking two foul shots for a 61-55 lead with 10.1 seconds remaining.
Haverford has only lost three conference games, and McNeave has played a huge role in two of them. In the first meeting back on November 22, she rattled in a buzzer-beating runner to give the Bears a walk-off win. McNeave only had two field goals in that one, but the rematch was a different story.
It was the McNeave Show in the first half, as the sophomore connected on all four of her 3-point attempts and had already scored a career-high 14 points by the 8:05 mark of the second quarter. McNeave's long-range marksmanship proved critical in a back-and-forth first half that featured five ties and nine lead changes, keeping the Bears in step despite major Fords advantages in points off turnovers (10-0), points in the paint (14-6), and second-chance points (11-4). Katie Cook's driving lay-up just beat the halftime buzzer and staked the Red and Black to a 29-28 edge.
While McNeave fired away from the outside, Wetzel dominated on the interior, racking up 12 points and five rebounds to pace Haverford.
The Fords led by as many as six (40-34) late in the third, but freshman Marisa DiLeo scored on a tough drive and added a step-back jumper to tie it at 40 in the final minute of the period. Capizzi's triple gave Haverford a 43-40 lead heading into the fourth quarter, which saw the lead change hands six more times before the Bears wound up on the top end of the see-saw.
Wetzel led all scorers with 20 points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, and Sierra Berkel posted 14 points and nine rebounds for the Fords.
Konstanzer was just 2 for 9 from the field, but had the huge three-point play and dished out four assists. Freshman Toni Suler was active on the defensive end with five steals and three blocks, adding six points and hitting both of her free throws.
McNeave finished 7 for 12 from the field and made all four of her 3-pointers in her best game as a Bear, and Lannon was 7 for 8 from the line.
With the win, Ursinus moved within a half-game of McDaniel and Johns Hopkins for the fifth and final playoff spot. The Bears have another huge game on Saturday, when they travel to Baltimore to face off with the Blue Jays.
