Box Score | Photo Gallery

It's the perfect recipe for success in the postseason.

Give up some three-pointers early on, take a seven-point deficit into halftime against a nationally ranked team, then turn up the defense in the second half and survive a game-tying three-point attempt in the waning seconds.

It was what the Muhlenberg women's basketball team did in the Centennial Conference championship game against McDaniel, and it's what it did again to defeat Cabrini, 60-57, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Mules' 18th win in 20 games sent them to the NCAA second round against host Geneseo, an 84-40 winner against Castleton in the pod's other first-round game.

Senior Leanna Tallamy recorded her 19th double-double of the season with game highs of 21 points and 13 rebounds, breaking two school records in the process and coming close to a third. Janelle Fleet tied her career high with 10 points, and senior Abby Stenger hit three huge second-half three-pointers.

"That was a great team comeback," said Fleet. "We were not in sync at the beginning, but we got it together. Our chemistry is just crazy when we put it together."

It was not the greatest of starts for the Mules (21-7) against a Cavalier team ranked 19th in Division III. In the first 25 seconds, Muhlenberg gave up a three-pointer and turned the ball over in the backcourt. Cabrini was in control for the entire first half, leading by as many as 12 points. The Cavaliers made four of seven three-point attempts in the first 10 minutes but did not hit another one from long distance for the rest of the game.

Tallamy scored half (13 of 26) of Muhlenberg's first-half points and hit a baseline jumper with three seconds left to cut the lead to seven.

"We went into halftime not too concerned," said Stenger. "We were a little hyper in the first half. We just needed to settle down and focus on what we needed to do."

Cabrini, which came in with an 18-game winning streak, started to pull away at the start of the second half, scoring seven of the first nine points to build its advantage back to 12 points, at 40-28 with 17:41 to play.

The Mules trailed 44-33 with 13:37 to play before turning to their defense, holding the Cavaliers (24-4) to one field goal in a 23-3 run that stretched more than nine minutes.

Sophomore Maggie Zerbe hit a layup that tied the game at 45, and Stenger's three-pointer with 7:21 left gave Muhlenberg its first lead of the game.

Fleet (pictured at left) drove in for a layup plus foul that extended the lead to six at the 5:46 mark, and a little more than a minute later, sophomore Caroline Barberi hit her only shot of the game, a three-pointer that made it 56-47.

"Every game different people are stepping up," said Stenger. "And that's what makes our team so special."

The game wasn't quite over yet, as Cabrini scored six straight points to cut the gap to three. With 45 seconds left, Tallamy drove and kicked to junior Christina Santone for a baseline jumper that made it 60-55, but the Cavaliers answered just seven seconds later.

A couple of missed front ends of one-and-ones gave the Cavaliers two possessions with a chance to tie, but they missed two three-pointers on the first one and could not get a shot off on the final possession of the game.

The Mules shot 50 percent in the second half while holding Cabrini to 31.3-percent shooting. The defense of Zerbe in the post was outstanding with Tallamy and Santone forced to sit with four fouls for portions of the second half.

Tallamy's nine field goals gave her 184 for the season, breaking the old mark of 181, and her 153 made free throws are one better than the school record she set last year. She needs two rebounds in the second-round game to break that school single-season record.

Hannah Rush had a game-high seven assists to help ensure that she and fellow seniors Tallamy, Fleet, Stenger, Laura Gregory (6 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks) and Nicole Pepe (3 points) would get to play one more day.

"The whole game I knew we were going to win," said Fleet. "We all had it in our minds that this was not going to be our last day."