Stockbower Plows On, Hot Dips Grill Garnet
LANCASTER, Pa. -- The Swarthmore women's basketball team ran into the hottest team in the Centennial, falling 84-55 to the Franklin & Marshall Diplomats Saturday evening in the Mayser Center. The Diplomats, winners of seven of their last eight, improve to 13-5 overall and 8-3 in the Conference, while Swarthmore dips to 5-13 overall and 2-10 in the Centennial.
Franklin & Marshall junior guard Sarah Meisenberg (Severna Park, Mary. / Severn School) and Cara Landolfi (North Arlington, N.J. / Montclair) led four scorers in double figures with 18 points. Senior forward Brittany Braxton (Nanuet, N.Y. / Rockland) had 12 points while sophomore guard Beth Holt (Lancaster, Pa. / Lancaster Catholic) added 11 points and three assists.
Garnet freshman forward Kathryn Stockbower (Ft. Washington, Pa. / Upper Dublin) picked up her 15th double-double of the year, scoring a team-high 12 points along with 17 rebounds. Senior forward Karen Berk (Havertown, Pa. / Haverford) chipped in 10 points and nine boards for the Garnet.
F&M has won seven of the last eight meetings with Swarthmore, holding a 28-8 edge in the overall series.
The Diplomats never trailed, jumping out to a 10-3 lead in the first half after a fast break lay-up by Meisenberg at 16:42.
Offensive rebounding kept Garnet in the early-going. Stockbower and Berk combined for seven offensive boards as Swarthmore enjoyed a 21-12 edge on the glass in the first half. Two free throws by Stockbower made it 12-9 Dips at the 15-minute mark. Sophomore captain Pam Costello’s (Havertown, Pa. / Haverford) three-pointer at 12:12 got Swarthmore even closer, 16-14, at 15:14.
It seemed like the Dips could not miss in the first half--Chabitnoy sank a corner jumper to start a 9-4 Dips run over the next seven minutes.
Garnet junior guard Melissa Grigsby (West Chester, Pa. / West Chester East) broke up the run with a jumper from the top of the key, making the score 25-20 Dips at 7:56. Grigsby finished the night with nine points, three assists and two steals.
A 20-4 run by F&M closed the half, sparked by the speed of Meisenberg and extra possessions caused by the Dips’ harassing defense (F&M is second in the Centennial by out-scoring their opponents an average of 8.9 per contest). The Diplomats created their own offense, tallying 22 points off 16 Swarthmore turnovers.
The Diplomats shot a scorching 51.4% (18 for 35) from the floor to hold a 45-29 lead at the intermission. Meisenberg, the Centennial’s leading scorer (18.1 points per game), and Chabitnoy led all scorers with 12 points at the break.
Stockbower, second in the Centennial in scoring (17.4 per game) and the Conference’s leading rebounder (13.7 rebounds per game), had eight points and eight boards to lead Swarthmore.
It was all Dips at the start of the second, running off the first nine points to assume a 54-29 lead. Hitting on 48.5% (16 of 33) of their shots in the second half, F&M extended the lead to as many as 30 points—84-54 on a jumper by senior guard Jessica Bishop (Verona, N.J. / Montclair) with 37 seconds left.
The Garnet return to Tarble Pavilion this Tuesday, Feb. 5, for a 7:00 p.m. game with Tri-Co rival Bryn Mawr. Swarthmore rolled out a 54-46 victory at Bryn Mawr on December 11, led by 16 points from senior guard Laura Popovics (Gorham, Maine / Gorham) and a double-double by Stockbower.