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While her teammates on the Muhlenberg women's basketball team were watching McDaniel and Haverford play the first Centennial Conference semifinal game, senior Abby Stenger had her eyes glued to the computer screen, watching the streaming video of the men's semifinal between Dickinson and Franklin & Marshall.
Stenger's younger brother Jon is a freshman on the Dickinson team, which earned a spot in the CC championship game with an 82-68 win. A couple of hours later, Abby joined her brother in the final round, helping the Mules to a 56-46 win against Johns Hopkins.
The victory put Muhlenberg into the championship game for the seventh time in the last 10 years. The Mules (19-7) will face host McDaniel, a 49-48 winner over Haverford on a three-point play with 25.5 seconds remaining.
Muhlenberg used a stifling defense that allowed only three second-half field goals to chalk up its 16th win in 18 games. Senior Leanna Tallamy led the way offensively with 16 points for her 21st consecutive game in double figures. She added 11 rebounds.
Senior Laura Gregory had 12 points and eight rebounds, and junior Christina Santone was a factor at both ends of the court, recording 10 points, five blocked shots and three steals.
"It's exciting that both of us get to go through this experience, especially being at opposite ends, me being a senior and him a freshman," said Stenger, who only got to watch the first half of Jon's game but found out from her parents right before tipoff of her game that Dickinson had won. "We've been talking the whole year, and he texted me before the game saying good luck."
The Mules allowed only 31 points the last time they faced Hopkins (16-9) but gave up almost that many in the first half alone, going into the locker room tied at 29. Muhlenberg held a 12-6 lead halfway through the period before the Blue Jays made four three-pointers against the Mules' zone in the final 8:30.
Muhlenberg wasn't fazed.
"We knew that if we kept sticking with it, moving on defense and getting out on their shooters, it would work," said Stenger.
Did it ever. The Blue Jays hit a jumper with 11:22 on the clock to tie the game back up at 41. They did not make another basket the rest of the game, missing their final 18 shots. Muhlenberg, which came into the game sixth in Division III in field-goal percentage defense, held Hopkins to 20.4-percent shooting for the game – 10.0 percent in the second half – and forced 20 turnovers.
The Mules took the lead for good when senior Hannah Rush (8 points, 3 assists, 2 steals) made two free throws after getting fouled on a drive to the basket with 11:12 left. Tallamy (pictured above) scored five points and Santone (pictured at left) four in the game-ending 15-5 run.
Only an uncharacteristic 12-for-26 showing at the foul line kept the margin of victory at 10 points. But in the "survive and advance" world of the postseason, the 10-point spread was plenty to get Muhlenberg into the final against a McDaniel squad that it split with during the regular season, with each team winning on its home court.
The two teams have met in the CC playoffs eight times previously, but only once in the championship game. That was in 2010, when the Green Terror captured its last title with a 72-56 win at Memorial Hall.
"They're definitely a very tough opponent," said Stenger. "It's going to be a loud gym, so we just need to keep our focus."
