Box Score

GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Junior Courtney Fields (Baltimore, Md./St. Paul's School for Girls) scored a season-high 20 points and Gettysburg College out-scored visiting McDaniel College 18-7 over the final seven minutes of play to secure a 65-54 victory in its Centennial Conference season finale Saturday in Bream Gym.

Gettysburg ended the 2008-09 slate with a 14-11 overall record, including 11-7 in conference play. The Bullets' conference mark put them in an unprecedented five-way tie for second-place in the standings as McDaniel, Dickinson College, Johns Hopkins University, and Franklin & Marshall College all finished 11-7 in league play. Gettysburg, the only school in the tie to play all four of the remaining tied teams twice, came up short in the conference's tiebreaker for the five-team tournament with the lowest total winning percentage in the head-to-head match ups between the five tied teams.

Despite missing the conference tournament, Gettysburg played spoiler by knocking McDaniel from the potential second seed and a first-round bye. In a back-and-forth battle that featured 11 lead changes and 15 ties, the Bullets finally grabbed the upper-hand late in the second stanza when freshman Sara Kinsley (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield Ludlowe) converted a lay-up at the seven-minute mark, breaking a tie at 47.

McDaniel kept the deficit down to one possession over the next couple minutes and trailed just 54-52 on a lay-up by Ashley Lyles at 4:30. Fields stepped up to the plate for the hosts and knocked down a jumper on the next possession and following a miss by the Green Terror, she put sunk the dagger with a three-pointer to extend the lead to 59-52 with just over three minutes to play. She added another big shot just over a minute later when Kinsley tipped a loose ball to her on the baseline and she converted a jumper just inside the arc as the shot clock expired.

McDaniel hurt its comeback cause with four missed shots, two missed free throws, and a pair of turnovers in the final four minutes of play.

Gettysburg canned only 25 percent of its shot attempts in the opening period, but still emerged from the first 20 minutes of play with a 29-27 lead on the strength of 10 offensive rebounds. Fields led the first-half charge with 10 points, including nailing a pair of threes.

Saturday's contest was equivalent to a heavyweight boxing match as Gettysburg and McDaniel went toe-to-toe in easily the most physical game of the year by either team. No player fouled out of the contest, but four Bullets had four fouls and the Green Terror had two players with four and four more with three. Both teams combined for 49 fouls and 57 free throw attempts in the contest.

McDaniel, which came into Saturday' game second in the CC in free throw percentage, connected on only 15-of-29 attempts at the charity stripe and finished 35.3 percent from the floor. Gettysburg canned 17-of-28 shots at the line, while boosting its game shooting percentage to 36.1 on the strength of a 13-for-25 performance in the second half. The Bullets also won the battle of the boards 45-37, with 17 rips coming on the offensive glass.

One game removed from being held scoreless, Fields connected on 8-of-14 shots from the field, including a trio of three-pointers en route to a season high. She also grabbed eight rebounds and picked up three steals. Sophomore Mary Spicer (Floral Park, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) hit double-figures as well with 13 points in addition to tying a career mark with nine rebounds and dishing out five assists.

Kinsley ended the afternoon with seven points and six rebounds for Gettysburg, while fellow first-year Julie McGrory (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) posted seven points and seven boards. Junior Allie Drechsler (Westminster, Md./Winters Mill) scored six points, grabbed four rebounds, and picked up five steals. Sophomore Caitlin Moser (Wyomissing, Pa./Wyomissing) was plagued by foul trouble and was limited to just five points, marking her lowest total since her first game as a collegian (two points).

Ali Moreland led McDaniel with 14 points, six rebounds, and three assists. Ashley Lyles added 13 points, while Kim Staub posted eight points and three assists.