As the Muhlenberg women's basketball team heads down to McDaniel for the Centennial Conference playoffs, the weekend carries a special significance and a bit of nostalgia for the senior class.

Five of the six seniors on the roster were a part of the 2012 Centennial Conference championship team during their freshman year. As their basketball careers at Muhlenberg come to a close, the seniors are looking to bookend their careers by with CC championships, a feeling that has eluded them the last two years.

"The feeling of winning a conference championship was something that hasn't been replicated since I've been here," said senior Hannah Rush. "We've had a bunch of big wins this year, and they were all great, but having the feeling of knowing we came together at the end of the year to win the conference, something that all the other teams working all year for, it's just a feeling you can't describe unless you are part of it.

"To be able to start our careers off with that feeling has kept the hope alive, and to end our careers like that would be an even greater feeling. It would just be maximized for us."

Coincidentally, the Mules, who are ranked fifth in the Mid-Atlantic Region, will be matched up on Friday night with the same team they beat to win that 2012 championship, Johns Hopkins. This year, Muhlenberg (18-7, 15-3) has split against the Blue Jays, with each home team winning by comfortable margins.

Back on December 6, Hopkins downed the Mules 63-46, making Muhlenberg 3-4. 

"I think the first game at Hopkins, we weren't at the point we are now. We took the loss as it was and figured out what we needed to do in the win. We watched film yesterday and saw what we needed to do and we've been doing the same thing since then," Rush said.

The loss to Hopkins was followed up with a loss at home to DeSales. From that point, something clicked within the Mules and they went on a tear, winning 15 of their next 17 games, including a 50-31 stifling of Hopkins at Memorial Hall on January 24. A nine-game win streak from December 17 to January 31, where they knocked off two previously undefeated teams in McDaniel and Gettysburg, helped the Mules shoot up the CC standings and secure a playoff berth, the team's 21st in 22 years of CC play.

It just took a bit of refocusing from the senior class to put things in perspective and get down to business.

"Us seniors got together and chatted and talked about how it was our last year to be how we wanted it to be," recalled Rush (pictured at left). "We knew we needed to be the leaders and bring the energy every day to practice and games. If we hadn't done that we wouldn't be in the situation we are now. We wouldn't even be playing right now."

As a team, Muhlenberg's defense has been the catalyst to its improved play. The team ranks sixth in the nation for Division III in opponent's field goal percentage, holding teams to 31.3 percent shooting. During this current 15-2 stretch, opponents are shooting just 28.5 percent.

How well Muhlenberg defends on Friday night could very well be the difference between advancing to the championship game Saturday and going home. In Hopkins' win over the Mules, they shot 48.1 percent. In the loss? 23.6.

Rush was named the starter on the 2012 championship team late in the season. The experience she gained then has helped her be the trusty caretaker of this team entering the playoffs.

"I think playing in the playoffs back then gave me a lot of experience entering my sophomore year. It was helpful to me to play with older girls. They taught me the way and showed me what I needed to do as a leader. They showed me how to win and what it meant to win," Rush said.

The main benefactor of Rush's assists has been senior power forward Leanna Tallamy. Interstingly enough, the three-time CC player of the week was not a member of that 2012 championship team, as she transferred to Muhlenberg after her freshman year.

"It would be nice to let Leanna know that she got a championship win and be a part of the thing she's heard about the year before she got here," Rush said.

The other seniors who were on that team are fellow point guard Janelle Fleet and wings Laura Gregory, Nicole Pepe and Abby Stenger (pictured at right). For this group to bookend their college careers with CC championships would show the progress they have made as a group, and the hard work they put in to get to this point.

"For us, it would show how much we've been working and improving individually and as a team. It would mean a lot to the six of us to get this win to show since day one we've all been team players, and cared only about the team. It would be a nice little bookend for us to start our careers off with a conference championship and end them with one," Rush said.

Notes: This is Muhlenberg's 19th time in the semifinals in the 22 years of the CC's existence ... This will be the 11th time the Mules face Johns Hopkins in the CC playoffs. The teams have met nine times in the championship game, with Muhlenberg winning six of those meetings, but only once previously in the semifinals (in 2001) ... Muhlenberg has won seven CC championships, the most of any team in the league. Johns Hopkins and McDaniel are tied for second with four apiece.