Box Score

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – McDaniel College out-scored Gettysburg College 43-28 in the second half to erase a 10-point halftime deficit and earn a 72-67 victory in the semifinals of the Centennial Conference Tournament hosted by Muhlenberg College on Saturday, Feb. 27.

McDaniel (19-6) will face host Muhlenberg (21-4) in Sunday's championship at 4 p.m. The Mules defeated Dickinson College 62-50 in Saturday's first semifinal. Gettysburg (22-4) now must hope for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, which will make the selections on Sunday and announce the field on Monday at 12:30 p.m. You can watch the live selection show via webcast at NCAA.com.

Senior Courtney Fields (Baltimore, Md./St. Paul's School for Girls) turned in 23 points and 10 rebounds in her school-record breaking 105th career game at Gettysburg. Junior Caitlin Moser (Wyomissing, Pa./Wyomissing) added 17 points and eight boards, while sophomore Julie McGrory (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) pumped in 16 points.

After McDaniel posted the opening bucket of the game, Gettysburg scored the next nine points as McGrory and Fields connected on four-straight buckets. The Green Terror cut the deficit to three on several occasions in the first half, including following a jumper by Cara Thompson which put the score at 16-13 at 11:56, but the Bullets went on a 12-3 run over the next five minutes to take their largest lead of the day at 28-16 with 6:14 left in the opening period.

Gettysburg looked to take that same lead into the locker room, but McDaniel guard Ali Moreland drilled a deep jumper just inside the arc to set the score at 39-29 at the break.

The Green Terror tried to whittle the deficit down in the second half, but each time they scored a bucket the Bullets were quick to answer, including a three-ball by McGrory at 15:11 which put the lead at 11 (52-41).

Gettysburg's offense, which had been shooting better than 55 percent through the first 25 minutes, hit a lull midway through the second half and went without a field goal for nearly seven minutes. During that period, McDaniel put up 11 consecutive points and tied the game at 52 on a three-pointer from the corner by Katelyn Fischer at 8:46.

Moser scored the next three Gettysburg buckets and Fields added the fourth to hold off the Terror temporarily, but the Green and Gold answered each score and took over the lead for the first time since the opening bucket on a Sally Grace three-pointer at 5:52 which made it 61-60.

Fields scored the next four points to put the Orange and Blue back on top with 3:34 to play. Moreland cut the margin to one with a lay-up via a nice feed from the post by Ashley Lyles. Lyles came through for McDaniel on the next three possessions as well, picking up a pair of steals on the defensive end and then stepping up and calmly sinking two free throws to put her team up 65-64 with 2:09 remaining. Following Lyles second theft, Moreland cut through the lane and converted another lay-up to put the Terror up by three (67-64) with 1:24 on the clock.

McGrory missed a trey on Gettysburg's next possession and Lyles controlled the rebound with less than a minute left. Kim Acton, who did not see any time in the first half, tossed in her third field goal of the second half with 39 seconds left to put McDaniel up 69-64. Following a free throw by Gettysburg senior guard Allie Drechsler (Westminster, Md./Winters Mill), the Green Terror were able to burn 16 seconds off the clock as the Bullets tried to foul, all but sealing the game's outcome. Moreland canned 3-of-4 free throws in the final 15 seconds to secure the win.

Statistically, Gettysburg turned in a better performance shooting from the floor (50.9 to 42.1 percent) and out-rebounded McDaniel 38-26. Where the Bullets faltered was in the turnover battle where the team lost the ball 18 times, including 11 in the second half alone.

Fields finished 10-of-17 from the floor while playing all but one minute in the game. Moser went 8-of-11 from the field and dished out a team-best four assists. Moser also moved past Barb Taylor '86 for sixth on Gettysburg's all-time scoring list with 1,199 points, while Fields 1,152 career tallies puts her eighth.

McGrory put up her eighth game of 15 or more points in her last nine outings for Gettysburg with a 6-for-9 performance from the field, including 2-of-3 from beyond the arc. Sophomore Sara Kinsley (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield Ludlowe) posted eight points, six rebounds, and four blocks.

Moreland led McDaniel with 16 points and Lyles posted 15 points and seven rebounds. Fischer tallied a dozen points all on three-pointers and tied Lyles for team honors with four helpers.