Jan. 9, 2008

Box Score

SWARTHMORE, Pa. - Sarah Meisenberg scored 21 out of Franklin & Marshall's 40 second-half points to finish with a season-high 29 points, leading the Diplomats to a 66-57 victory over Swarthmore in Centennial Conference (CC) action on Wednesday.

Meisenberg, who set her career high of 31 points at Swarthmore last season, went 10-for-19 from the floor and a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe, while grabbing a team-high nine rebounds, five assists and four steals to help F&M (7-4, 3-2 CC) pick up its first conference win in 2008.

Kathryn Stockbower tallied her ninth double-double of the season with a team-best 26 points and a game-high 16 rebounds for the Garnet (4-6, 1-3 CC).

The Diplomats shot 90.9 percent (20-for-22) from the free-throw line and registered 25 points off turnovers to earn their fourth straight victory over Swarthmore.

Down 27-26 at halftime, it did not take long for F&M to regain the lead it held in the open stanza. After Stockbower got the Garnet their first basket of the second half, Meisenberg made two from the line and drove in for four more points to give F&M a 34-31 lead.

Amanda Miceli tallied the next four points, followed by a jumper from Miriam Marcis to make it 41-33 at the 13:26 mark.

Meisenberg completed a three-point play and Beth Holt drained one from behind the arc for a 10-point Diplomat lead.

From there, Meisenberg scored the next 12 out of 19 points for F&M while the team went 6-for-7 from the line to hold on for the win.

In the first half, the Diplomats pulled out to a 16-9 lead after a good jumper from Miceli with 10:02 remaining. Laura Popovics made a three-pointer and Summer Miller-Walfish got the jumper in the paint to make it a two-point game.

F&M scored eight unanswered points to take a 24-14 lead, but Swarthmore went on a 13-2 run to take the one-point edge into the locker rooms.

Miceli added a double-digit performance with 10 points.

The Diplomats return to action on Saturday against Washington. Game time is 2 p.m.