HAVERFORD, Pa. - The Haverford College women's basketball team (16-9) advanced to the Centennial Conference Semifinals with a convincing 58-46 win over visiting Muhlenberg (13-13) on Tuesday night inside a packed Gooding Arena. The Fords played their most consistent basketball of the season, using a strong second half to pull away from the Mules. Getting the playoff win at home was impressive in its own right, but some single-game records did their part to steal the show.
Ally Landau led the Fords to victory with a career-high 36 points. The junior put on a shooting clinic in front of the home fans, shooting 14-of 27 from the field while hitting six threes. In scoring a career high, Landau also tied two records on the evening. The Livingston, N.J. native tied Haverford's single-game record, and the Centennial Conference playoff record for points.
The broken records did not stop there. Senior Kayla Robinson grabbed a whopping 27 rebounds to go along with her 11 points. With that total, Robinson set the Haverford all-time record for rebounds in a game, overtaking Amy Taylor '92's total of 25 set back in the 1989 season. The senior also set the Centennial Conference record for single-game rebounds in what was truly a special performance.
Lastly, Cortlyn Morris, who already owns the Haverford record for blocks in a single season, added to her total with eight blocks on the night, a Centennial Conference playoff record. The previous record for a Centennial Tournament contest was six. In 32 minutes, the senior center registered four points, four assists, and four rebounds to go along with those eight blocks.
The records tell the story of how the game unfolded for Haverford, but the hosts did find themselves down four at the end of the first quarter. Erin Albright opened things up with a three-pointer on the first Haverford possession before Landau rattled off six straight points. The Fords' final make of the opening quarter came from Robinson but that run of scoring wasn't enough to hold the advantage. Muhlenberg's Rachel Saxton and Ava Connolly gave the Fords fits driving to the basket for contested layups. However, the momentum changed in the second quarter as Muhlenberg only scored nine points in the frame.
Landau scored back-to-back buckets to regain the lead at 16-14 and Robinson then followed that up with a layup. Muhlenberg immediately tied the game at 18 with a basket from Connolly with seven minutes remaining in the half. The two teams were stuck on 18 for nearly three minutes until Saxton converted a layup for the Mules. That basket triggered the Fords to get something going as Abby Ryan would get a steal off a Muhlenberg rebound to score an easy two. From there, Landau used a quick scoring run to give Haverford a slim 26-23 lead at halftime.
The third quarter was even across the board, except the Fords were able to outscore Muhlenberg by one to take a four-point lead into the final quarter. Haverford got scoring from Morris, Robinson, and the reliable Landau. Despite shooting 5-of-17 in the quarter, the Fords looked comfortable heading into the game's final stanza.
Landau got to work in the fourth quarter, completely taking the game over. Morris started the quarter with a jump shot to extend the lead to six, and Robinson gathered her own miss for a put-back to make the lead eight. After that, it was time for Landau to see how many shots she could knock down in a row. The elusive point guard worked her way into the lane for a mid-range attempt that ended in a bucket.
She then showed her range from deep, knocking down two three-pointers on back-to-back possessions. The junior then popped back into the lane for another mid-range jumper at the 3:52 mark. When Landau finally missed after knocking down four straight baskets at the 2:49 mark, the home fans looked to the scoreboard to see their team up 11 points in a matter of minutes.
There wasn't much left for Haverford to worry about in the final minutes as Landau's scoring running paired with Morris's defensive prowess completely deflated the Mules. Morris registered two of her eight blocks in the final quarter with the Mules shooting 4-of-15 from the field. Robinson grabbed eight rebounds in the quarter and Landau shot 4-of-7 from the field and 2-of-3 from deep.
It was a season-high for the Fords from the three-point line, as they knocked down seven triples.. The win came on a night where Haverford left a fair amount of points off the board due to shooting just 5-of-14 from the free throw line. The defense made it difficult for Muhlenberg as Haverford limited the Mules' second-chance opportunities with 54 total rebounds.
The Fords now hope to carry the hot shooting and suffocating defense into the home of Johns Hopkins for their semifinal matchup with the Blue Jays with a trip to the final on the line. The game is scheduled for Friday, February 24, with tip-off set for 6 p.m at Goldfarb Gymnasium in Baltimore.