LANCASTER, PA - Point guard Dana Johns (Jr., York, PA/Eastern York) connected on five-of-10 from the field, including two-of-four from beyond the arc, and nine-of-16 at the free throw line for a game high 21 points with seven steals as the Franklin & Marshall College women's basketball team handled Swarthmore 57-45 in Centennial Conference action.
Leading 30-23 at halftime, F&M (4-8, 3-4 Centennial Conference) saw its lead dwindle to three points at 31-28 with 17:25 left on the game clock. However, center Lauren Dodrill (Sr., Timonium, MD/Roland Park) connected on a pair of free-throws and drained a baby-hook to push the lead to seven points before Ali Wollf made a lay-up, Jessica Fuhr tallied a free-throw and Kristen Lee connected on a three-pointer to pull Swarthmore to within 35-34.
Swarthmore (5-6, 2-4 Centennial Conference) took the lead at 36-35 with 12:22 remaining on the clock as Karen Berk made a jumper to cap an 8-0 run. F&M countered as Johns made a pair of foul shots and Emily Weaver (So., Prince Frederick, MD/Calverton) dropped in a lay-up to take a 39-36 lead. Again Swarthmore closed to within a point as Debra Farrelly hit a jumper, but Christy Strunk (Jr., Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) knocked down a jumper and Johns added a free throw to put F&M ahead 42-38 with 8:30 to play.
Radiance Walters made a lay-up for Swarthmore to put the Garnet down by two points with 8:00 on the clock. Neither team scored for nearly two minutes as Strunk made the front-end of a pair of free-throws at 6:09 to inch the lead to three points and ignite a 5-0 run as the Diplomats took a 47-40 lead following a lay-up by Brittany Braxton (Fr., Pearl River, NY/Nanuet) with 3:09 on the clock.
The Garnet failed to close the gap as the Diplomats closed out the game over the final three minutes making eight-of-10 free-throw attempts and a lay-up by Braxton to take the 12-point victory.
For F&M, Strunk scored eight points, Weaver tacked on seven points, Dodrill chipped in seven points and 10 rebounds, while Maura Lentz (Sr., Baltimore, MD/Catonsville) and Braxton added six points as the Diplomats improve to 22-8 all-time against Swarthmore.
Fuhr led Swarthmore with 10 points, while Berk added four points and a team high nine rebounds.
The key to the game was F&M's foul shooting as the Diplomats converted 15-of-27 from the charity stripe, including 15-of-27 in the second half, while holding the Garnet to five-of-12 from the line in the game.
Franklin & Marshall (4-8, 3-4 CC) will return to action on January 15 at Centennial Conference foe Washington College. Game time is set for 2:00 p.m.
