CHESTERTOWN, Md.—A strong fourth-quarter effort by Swarthmore College Women's Basketball nearly helped the Garnet complete a comeback against the Washington College Shorewomen in Tuesday night's Centennial Conference opener. The Garnet pulled to within one point with 50 seconds to go, but couldn't overtake the hosts and fell by a final score of 55-51.
Both teams struggled to shoot from the floor on Tuesday with Washington hitting 29 percent of its field-goal attempts and Swarthmore 24.2 percent. Swarthmore came up with seven steals and five blocks in the defensive battle.
Freshman
Kim Kockenmeister, a two-sport athlete making her first appearance with Women's Basketball since reaching the NCAA's "Sweet Sixteen" with Swarthmore Women's Soccer, dropped in a team-high nine points in just 14 minutes off the bench.
Elizabeth Stiles also scored nine points and had three rebounds and three steals.
Freshman forward
Erin Cronin flirted with a double-double after scoring eight points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Cronin also blocked a game-high three shots.
Abigail Pirron also added eight points and had six rebounds.
Audra Woodside chipped in seven points,
Kendall Tribus added six and
Jayna Jones had four.
Swarthmore shot well from the free-throw line, shooting 70.8 percent.
The Garnet trailed by as many as 12 points in the game, but kept things close. In the fourth quarter, a jumper from Woodside sparked a 10-2 Garnet run that allowed them to tie the score up at 48-48 with 3:07 remaining. The Shorewomen fended off the Garnet attempt to pass them and held on for the win.
Swarthmore (1-3) is back at home on Tuesday against Johns Hopkins for a 7 p.m. game.