COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College women's basketball team put together its most complete performance of the young season this evening, holding off a second-half charge by visiting Swarthmore and pulling away down the stretch for a 67-56 triumph in the Centennial Conference opener for both schools. Senior guard Alyssa Polimeni (Berkeley Heights, N.J./Governor Livingston Regional) flirted with a triple-double, stuffing the stat sheet with a career-high 21 points, eight rebounds, and nine assists to lead a balanced effort for the Bears, who won their first game of the season and handed new head coach Margaret White the first victory of her career.
Ursinus (1-3, 1-0) shot a season-best 37.3 percent from the field (25-of-67), but it was the other numbers that were particularly impressive. The Bears dished out 17 assists against only eight turnovers. They never trailed. They outrebounded Swarthmore (1-3, 0-1) by a 48-42margin. And whenever Ursinus needed a bucket to quell a Garnet uprising, the home side delivered.
The Bears led by as many as 15 after a deep triple by freshman guard Brielle Clarke (Egg Harbor City, N.J./Absegami) made it 29-14 with 3:37 remaining. But the Garnet rattled off the last ten points of the period to go into intermission down only five. Ursinus went ahead by double digits when sophomore forward Allie Cook (North Reading, Mass./Buckingham, Brown & Nichols) scored inside on a feed from Polimeni, staking the hosts to a 43-32 bulge.
Swarthmore again closed strong, uncorking a 10-0 run bridging the end of the third quarter to pull within 43-42 with 9:02 to play. Sophomore guard Rachel Guy (Chadds Ford, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) and Polimeni sandwiched two free throws around a bucket by senior forward Jessica Porada (Morristown, N.J./Morris Catholic), pushing Ursinus' advantage back out to seven at 49-42.
The Garnet made it a two-point game once at the 6:31 mark. This time, Ursinus held firm. Porada put back a miss on the ensuing trip and Polimeni raced down the floor for a fast-break layup to stretch the lead to six. After a Swarthmore turnover, Polimeni delivered an early dagger, draining a 3-pointer to make it 56-47 with 5:24 left. The Garnet got as close as eight (58-50), but a bucket by Guy triggered a 7-0 run that put the game to bed.
Junior forward Maggie O'Neil collected 11 points and 10 rebounds for the visitors, with senior guard Jessica Jowdy providing 14 points and sophomore guard Hayley Raymond chipping in 11.
Polimeni did a bit of everything in one of her best performances as a Bear. She orchestrated the offense efficiently, handing out a season-best nine helpers and getting to the line 11 times (8-of-11) with aggressive driving.
The Bears did plenty of damage inside, seizing a 30-27 advantage in the paint behind the tough interior play of Porada, Guy, and senior forward Elana Roadcloud (Roslyn, Pa./Springside School). Porada made eight of her 16 field-goal attempts, pairing 16 points with a game-best 13 rebounds for her first double-double of the season and the 24th of her career. Guy broke out for career highs of 14 points and seven boards, also providing three assists, and Roadcloud notched a season-best seven points alongside eight caroms of her own.
Ursinus limited the Garnet to just 29.7 percent shooting (19-of-64), including a measly 3-for-15 (20%) from beyond the arc.
The Bears will enjoy a week off for the holiday break before returning to conference competition at Franklin & Marshall on Tuesday, December 1. Tip-off is set for 6:00 p.m.