HAVERFORD, PA - Guard Christy Strunk (Jr., Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) scored 12 of her game high 24 points in the final eight minutes of play off a pair of three-pointers and six free throws as the Franklin & Marshall College women's basketball team rallied from a 29-22 halftime deficit to upend Haverford College 68-58 in Centennial Conference action.
Trailing by seven at halftime, the Diplomats saw the lead expand out to nine points at 31-22 with 19:32 left in the game as Kendra Smythe hit a jumper. F&M countered as point guard Dana Johns (Jr., York, PA/Eastern York) connected on a three pointer, raced the length of the court to block a trey attempt by Bea Chang and dished off an assist to center Lauren Dodrill (Sr., Timonium, MD/Roland Park) at the 18:47 mark to cut the lead to 31-27.
Haverford (3-12, 0-9 Centennial Conference) fired back as Kate Wettstein and Meredith Foote hit jumpers to push the lead back out to eight points at 35-27, but Maura Lentz (Sr., Baltimore, MD/Catonsville) canned a three-pointer before Strunk and Brittany Braxton (Fr., Pearl River, NY/Nanuet) knocked down baskets to pull to within 35-34 with 15:52 left on the clock.
Foote and Erica Juliano made baskets for Haverford to inch the lead back to five points, but Strunk and Braxton hit jumpers to slice the margin back to a point at 39-38 with 13:00 left.
The lead swayed from four to one point until Strunk hit a pair of free throws and Jessica Bishop (Fr., Verona, NJ/Montclair) made the back end of a pair from the charity stripe to knot the game at 45-45 with 10:06 to play.
The Fords retook the lead as Wettstein made a pair of free throws, but Lentz hit a jumper to tie the game at 47-47 at 8:49 before Strunk swished a trey at 8:23 off an assist from Johns to a 50-47 Franklin & Marshall lead.
Haverford trimmed the lead back to one point at 50-49 as Juliano made a jumper, but Strunk made another three-pointer to made the score 53-49 at the 7:19 mark.
Following a lay-up by Katie Crowley to make the game 53-51 at the 7:04 mark, Johns made a free throw and a three-pointer on consecutive trips down the court to give F&M a six point lead and ignite a 6-0 run capped off by a jumper from Dodrill with 4:47 left to play for a 59-51 lead.
The Fords sliced the lead to two points as Foote made a three-pointer and Crowley netted a lay-up, but Emily Weaver (So., Prince Frederick, MD/Calverton) dropped in a jumper before Strunk hit four straight free throws to make the score 65-57 with 46 seconds left to play as F&M pulled out the 10 point victory.
Dodrill led the Diplomats on the boards pulling down a game high 21 rebounds with three steals and 12 points as she recorded her Centennial Conference leading 10th double-double of the season. Further, she moved to within eight rebounds of surpassing Amy Kreitz '02 (489) for 13th in career rebounds at the College as Dodrill now has 482 career boards.
Johns added seven points and five assists, while Weaver chipped in 13 points and Lentz tallied five points and five assists in the win as F&M improved to 14-1 all-time against the Fords.
For Haverford, Juliano and Smythe registered 18 and 10 points, respectively, while Claire Scribner added four points and 10 rebounds in the loss.
Franklin & Marshall (6-9, 5-5 Centennial Conference) will return to action on January 26 at home versus Bryn Mawr College. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m.
