Box Score

CHESTERTOWN, Md. – With every game gaining more importance in the Centennial Conference playoff race, the Gettysburg College women's basketball team picked up a huge win on the road at Washington College on Saturday, knocking off the Shorewomen 55-51.
 
The victory pushes Gettysburg (10-6, 6-5 CC) out to a one-and-a-half game lead over Washington (5-11, 4-6 CC) for the fifth and final spot in the conference playoffs with less than half of the schedule remaining.
 
Senior Caroline Murphy (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) posted 14 points to lead the Bullets in scoring for the seventh consecutive game. Senior Alyssa Isler (New Hope, Pa./New Hope-Solebury) turned in 13 points and sophomore Emily Duggan (Marmora, N.J./Ocean City) grabbed 10 rebounds.
 
Emily Hubley led Washington with 11 points, while Latisha Pledger tallied 10 points and nine rebounds.
 
Offense was at a premium early in the first half as the two teams traded the lead five times in the opening 10 minutes. After Pledger connected on a lay-up to give Washington a 12-11 lead at 9:35, the two sides would go without a field goal for nearly seven minutes. The Shorewomen would maintain the lead with free throws and jump ahead 18-15 with 3:52 left in the period.
 
The Bullets capped the opening half with a 9-0 run as Murphy tallied seven points on her own. She ended the stanza with an old-fashioned three-point play with eight seconds left to give the visitors a 24-18 lead at halftime.
 
Senior Rianna Doane (West Chester, Pa./Bayard Rustin) scored the first bucket of the second half to add to Gettysburg's lead, but Washington never backed down, tying the game at 32-32 on a lay-up by Carley Kendall at 14:27.
 
The Bullets countered with another nine-point spurt to take its largest lead of the game at 41-32 with 11:03 on the clock. Isler accounted for four points and later in the period when the Shorewomen cut the deficit to six, she hit a deep three-pointer to push the advantage back to nine (46-37) with 7:41 to play.
 
Washington sliced the lead down to four with 1:33 to play, but back-to-back turnovers by the hosts set the stage for Gettysburg to ice the game from the foul line. Senior Cori Younghans (Succasunna, N.J./Roxbury) canned four free throws inside the final 40 seconds to help the Bullets pull out the victory.
 
Both Doane and Younghans each finished with eight points for Gettysburg, the latter canning her only field goal and hitting 5-of-7 free throws.
 
Gettysburg was out-rebounded in the contest 49-31, but the Bullets countered the rebounding deficit by forcing the hosts into 24 turnovers.
 
Gettysburg returns home to face Franklin & Marshall College on Tuesday, Jan. 28, at 6 p.m.