Box Score
With its fate already decided for the Centennial Conference playoffs, the Muhlenberg women's basketball team wanted to make a statement in its final regular-season tuneup against Ursinus. To do so, the Mules leaned on their star player.
Senior forward Leanna Tallamy had another dominating performance, putting up a 28-point, 19- rebound double-double while also scoring her 1,000th point as a Mule a 70-56 win.
The 1,000th point came on a layup with 17:51 to play in the second half off an assist from Christina Santone. She's scored 906 in the past two seasons after transferring from Gordon following her freshman year. The double-double was Tallamy's 17th of the year, capping off another banner week in which she was also named the Lehigh Valley Small College Basketball player of the year.
"It was pretty cool to get this milestone. It's was just great being a transfer and coming in here knowing that my teammates had my back," said Tallamy, who came within one board of the first 20-rebound game by a Muhlenberg player in 18 years .
The win wasn't a simply walk through Ursinus' snowy campus, though. With 13:54 to play, the Mules found themselves tied with the Bears (8-17, 6-12) at 40. From that point, Muhlenberg ripped off an 11-0 run, and Ursinus would never recover.
The momentum from the win was something Muhlenberg (18-7, 15-3) needed headed into the CC semifinals against Johns Hopkins on Friday night at McDaniel.
"We definitely needed this win today. This win made us 15-3 in conference, and that's a really great record to have," said Tallamy.
In fact, it's one of the greatest records the Mules have ever had. Since the CC went to one division for the 2003-04 season, Muhlenberg had finished the regular season with three or fewer losses only three times previously: 2005-06 (16-2), 2008-09 (18-0) and 2009-10 (17-3).
"We didn't want to go into the playoffs on a loss," Tallamy added. "We knew it was the last regular-season game and we needed to keep pushing through. We kept pushing and kept shooting our shots and eventually they started to fall."
After shooting just 35.3 percent in the first half, which ended with a slim one-point lead, the Mules scorched the nets to the tune of 51.5 percent in the second.
Santone had a double-double of their own with 10 points and 10 rebounds. She had a single blocked shot, but that was good enough for her to break the school record for blocked shots in a season with 61.
Senior Laura Gregory had 11 points, and senior Janelle Fleet tied her career high of 10. Thanks to Tallamy, the 10th 1,000-point scorer in program history, and Santone inside, Muhlenberg owned a plus-10 rebounding advantage.
