LANCASTER, PA -- Courtney Tierney (Sr., Princeton, NJ/Hun School) scored a game high 21 points and dished out eight assists to lead Franklin & Marshall College past Gettysburg 74-69 in Centennial Conference (CC) women's basketball action.
The senior guard hit three-of-eight from behind the arc and six-for-six at the free-throw line to help the Diplomats (1-4, 1-1 CC) capture their first win of the season.
For Gettysburg, Jen Bengel led four players in double-digits with a team high 20 points. Bengel went eight-for-13 from the floor and grabbed seven boards, while Jamie Marshall tallied 12 points, Amy Tarbell added 11 and Kathryn Reilly chipped in 10.
Leading 64-54 with 6:08 left on the clock following a jumper by Dana Johns (So., York, PA/Eastern York), the Diplomats saw their lead dwindle to a 67-67 stalemate with 2:52 to go before Tierney dropped in a pair of free-throws and a lay-up to push the lead back to 71-67 as Franklin & Marshall held on for the win.
The victory snaps a four game-losing skid for the Diplomats in which the team fell to York, Lebanon Valley, Muhlenberg and Messiah as Franklin & Marshall handed the Bullets (1-6, 0-4 CC) their sixth-straight loss of the season, the longest losing streak by a Gettysburg squad since the 1989-90 season.
Leading 40-37 at halftime, the Diplomats never looked back in the second half as the Bullets failed to close within five until the final six minutes of the game.
Absent all but seven minutes of the first half due to foul trouble, center Amy Abernathy (Sr., Far Hills, NJ/American School - Paris) took over the game in the first five minutes of the second half scoring eight points as the Diplomats built a 55-44 lead with 14:49 showing on the game clock.
Gettysburg moved within nine points of Franklin & Marshall over the next five minutes as Dana Bear drained a jumper to cut the Diplomats lead to 59-50 with 11:35 to go in the game.
Franklin & Marshall responded as Johns made a pair of shots at the charity stripe before the Bullets Elizabeth Ross made a foul shot to place the game at 61-51 with 10:52 on the clock.
The foul shot ignited an 11-3 run by Gettysburg as the Bullets sliced the Diplomats' lead to 64-61 over the next five minutes before Johns drained a three-pointer to put Franklin & Marshall ahead 67-63.
Back-to-back field goals by Bengel and Reilly at 3:47 and 2:52 knotted the score at 67 to set up Tierney's heroics.
The keys to the game for the Diplomats were offensive
rebounding and second chance points as the Diplomats were able to run time off the clock and score 22 points off second-chance opportunities as they pulled down 16 offensive boards. For Gettysburg, the Bullets grabbed 12 offensive rebounds, but mustered 14 points off the glass, a spread of eight points and multiple seconds thanks to reset shot clocks which F&M used to its advantage.
Overall, Johns, Abernathy and Tierney took over the second half of the game accounting for 29 of the Diplomats' 34 points in the final frame to take the victory. In the game, Abernathy finished with nine points, all in the second half, and seven rebounds, including five offensive boards. At point guard, Johns chipped in 16 points off five-of-10 shooting, including three-of-six from beyond the arc, with 11 second half points as she hit three-of-four from the floor, two-of-three from long range and three-of-four at the charity stripe down the stretch.
Franklin & Marshall College will return to the court on December 11 at Haverford College. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m.
