COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. - The Haverford College women's basketball team (5-3, 2-2 CC) powered past Ursinus (1-5, 1-3 CC) at Helfferich Hall on Thursday evening, winning the Centennial Conference showdown by a convincing 61-39 final. The Fords were firing on all cylinders, shooting a season-best 53.2 percent from the field, a mark that ties for the eighth-best shooting performance in the program's single-game history.
The Fords had four scorers in double figures, paced by a 16-point, 11-rebound night from Kayla Robinson as the junior continued her torrid start to her second full season with the Fords, notching her third double-double effort of the season. Cortlyn Morris added 13 points to eight rebounds and four blocks while Ally Landau added 16 points and a team-best six assists. Summer Ryan had a breakout contest off the bench, logging 22 minutes and tallying 14 points on 5-6 shooting to go with four rebounds.
Haverford began the contest on a 4-0 run, as Ursinus was frustrated from the field in the early goings. Haverford held that same four-point lead at 8-4 with under two minutes to play in the opening stanza as both teams struggled from the field, and the Fords took the two-point lead into the second thanks in part to a 10-7 rebounding advantage in the opening moments of play.
The second began with a 6-0 Haverford run to take a 14-6 lead, eventually prompting a Ursinus timeout with 7:45 to play. Landau kept the run going with a mid-range jumper for a 10-point advantage and the lead hit 12 as Morris converted a contested layup with 5:38 to go in the half.
Katie McCusker converted on a layup of her own to end that 10-0 Haverford stretch, but the lead ballooned to 24-8 as Morris and Ryan each found the bucket in succession. Ryan completed a three-point play as the visitors took command up 17, and Ursinus called for another timeout after Ryan again was fouled after finishing in the paint. The lead hit 20 as she knocked down the bonus point from the charity stripe, and the Fords headed into the intermission with a comfortable lead at 28-11.
The Fords shot 50 percent in the first 20 minutes of action (12-24) and limited the Bears to just a 20 percent clip (5-25). The Fords also made their presence felt on the glass, holding a commanding 18-10 advantage in rebounds in the first half.
Kayla Robinson extended the lead back to a healthy 19 with 5:20 remaining in the third, and some clutch offensive rebounding from the visitors helped Morris get a second chance in the paint, as the junior deftly converted a hook shot to lengthen the lead to 21, prompting another timeout from Ursinus. The Bears battled back with a strong stretch to end the third quarter, but the Fords the lead reached 24 as Ryan converted on Haverford's first three-pointer of the contest and a three-point play from the first-year New Yorker helped the lead reach its apex of 27.
Haverford was able to work in some younger players and reserves down the stretch, with Zoe Carlson, Abigail Clark, Sydney Cummings, Fiona Flynn, and Michela Jones all seeing their first action of the season in the waning minutes of the victory.
The Fords held a 37-28 advantage in rebounding, with a 31-18 lead on the defensive glass. Women's Basketball has now won seven straight in the all-time series with the Bears, including four consecutive matchups in Collegeville.
Haverford will next be in action on Saturday, heading to Franklin & Marshall for a 1 p.m. tipoff against the Diplomats. The contest will be the first game of a Centennial Conference doubleheader that also sees the men's team taking on F&M at approximately 3 p.m.