Despite suffering a heartbreaking loss to Franklin & Marshall on the final day of the regular season, the Muhlenberg women's basketball team qualified for the Centennial Conference playoffs.

The 55-54 loss, on a three-pointer from the corner with seven-tenths of a second remaining, meant that the Mules needed Dickinson to lose at Washington to earn a playoff berth. And that's just what happened about 15 minutes after the final buzzer at Memorial Hall, with the Shoremen knocking out the Red Devils by a 63-59 final. 

Muhlenberg (15-10, 11-9) is in the playoffs for the 25th time in the 26 years of the CC's existence and will travel to Ursinus on Tuesday night for a first-round game. The teams will be playing for the second time in a week; in their last meeting, the Bears handed the Mules the first of their back-to-back one-point losses.

After rallying from an early 8-0 deficit to take a 30-26 lead into the half, the Mules endured a third quarter in which they did not make a field goal and went into the final period down by three. The Diplomats (13-12, 10-10) extended the lead to five before Muhlenberg came back for a 43-42 lead on a pair of three-pointers by Mikaela McGarvey, the second from well behind the arc.

The teams swapped leads six times down the stretch, with the Mules going ahead 53-52 when senior Sara Dilly drove in for a layup with 18.8 seconds left. 

On the next Diplomat possession, senior Carley Hamilton batted away a pass into the post for a steal. Junior Emilie Benton was fouled and made one of two free throws with 7.3 ticks remaining to make it 54-52 and set the stage for the dramatic winner. 

Freshman Margaux Eripret recorded her first career double-double with 13 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. Benton finished with 9 points and 4 steals, going 3-for-5 from the foul line after not attempting a free throw in the first 24 games of the season.

Dilly and Hamilton were honored along with fellow seniors Amanda Morello, Madison Mummey, Eva Sodaitis and Meghan Falk prior to the game.