Box Score

GETTYSBURG, Pa. – The Gettysburg College women's basketball team, led by senior Megan Hartman's (Lewistown, Pa./Indian Valley) 16 points, shot over 50 percent from the field en route to a 70-47 dismantling of visiting Franklin & Marshall College in Centennial Conference action at Bream Gymnasium on Thursday night. The Bullets improved to 10-6 overall on the season and moved into a three-way tie for fourth-place in the league standings with a 6-3 mark.

Gettysburg finished 28-of-53 from the field for a blistering percentage of 52.8, second only to its performance against Bryn Mawr College on Jan. 9 (53.8). Hartman finished 7-of-11 from the floor and 1-of-2 from the free throw line and added a team-best four assists. Sophomore Allie Drechsler (Westminster, Md./Winters Mill) was 6-of-12 from the floor and nailed her only free throw for 14 points, while Courtney Fields (Baltimore, Md./St. Paul's School for Girls) tallied a dozen points and five boards.

Franklin & Marshall (11-5, 6-3 CC) went right to its star player at the outset as Sarah Meisenberg, the leading scorer in the conference coming into the night, went coast-to-coast after pulling down a defensive rebound just 30 seconds into the contest. That would be the only lead of the game for the visitors as Hartman put in a lay-up of her own just 15 seconds later. The Bullets continued to set the tone by forcing turnovers on four consecutive Dip possessions, the last two turning into Hartman lay-ups and giving the hosts an 8-2 advantage just two minutes in.

The Gettysburg run extended to 16-0 as Drechsler and freshman standout Caitlin Moser (Wyomissing, Pa./Wyomissing) traded a pair of buckets. Franklin & Marshall stopped the bleeding with a free throw shot, but outside of Meisenberg, the Diplomats had few answers for the host's attack. While Gettysburg opened with 50 percent shooting in the opening half, the visitors managed to hit only 8-of-27 opening field goals (29.6 percent), with Meisenberg accounting for 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting. The lead grew to as many as 21 in the opening period and settled at 38-20 as Hartman connected on a jumper just before the halftime buzzer.

In the second half, the Bullets showed no signs of cooling off, kick-started by a free throw by Nicole Dobranski (Albertson, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) and a three-pointer by Hartman just 30 seconds into the final period. Franklin & Marshall answered with back-to-back buckets to cut the margin to 18, but that would be the first of only two instances in the entire half where the visitors managed to score a field goal on consecutive possessions.

Gettysburg was even better in the second half, shooting over 57 percent from the field and extending its lead to 29 twice, the first on a lay-up by Moser at 11:17 (57-28) and once again on a jumper by Fields at 3:25 (68-39). The lead never dipped below 23 in the final 17:39.

The 23-point margin was the largest in the series since a 75-43 victory by the Bullets at the close of the 1995-96 season. It was also the second-straight contest Gettysburg posted such a margin, having defeated Richard Stockton College 76-53 earlier in the week. With Franklin & Marshall's loss and Johns Hopkins University's 65-62 victory over McDaniel College, Gettysburg moved into a tie for fourth with the Diplomats and Green Terror.

The Bullet starting five took care of business against the Diplomats, out-scoring their opposing five-some 59-33. Dobranski put together an all-around line of nine points, six rebounds, two blocks, and two steals. After grabbing 50-plus rebounds in each of the previous three games, Gettysburg managed only 38 on Thursday night, but still won the battle on the glass by six (38-32) thanks in part to Moser's career-high 14. She added eight points and a pair of steals. Junior Margaret White (Burke, Va./James W. Robinson) led the Bullet bench production with eight points.

Meisenberg was the lone bright spot for Franklin & Marshall, finishing with a game-high 21 points. She was 9-of-16 from the field and 2-of-3 from the charity stripe, adding six rebounds. Brittany Braxton contributed six points and eight rebounds for the Dips.

Gettysburg jumps right back into the mix with its third home battle of the week on Saturday as the Bullets host Haverford College (3-12, 0-9 CC) at 4 p.m. The Gettysburg men's basketball team, fresh off a thrilling 67-66 victory over Franklin & Marshall on Wednesday (Jan. 23) also face the Fords this weekend at 2 p.m.