Box Score |
Photo GalleryIn a season filled with records, milestones and noteworthy accomplishments, the Muhlenberg women's basketball team's 62-35 home win against Haverford set itself above the rest.
Senior
Christina Santone hit a career high and broke a school record, sophomore
Rachel Plotke broke a Centennial Conference record and sophomore
Brandi Vallely tied a CC mark as the nationally ranked Mules (19-2, 13-2) clinched not only a CC playoff berth, but also a first-round bye.
But the biggest kudos were for head coach
Ron Rohn, who in his 15th season reached the 300-win milestone. Just the second coach in College history to win 300 games in one sport, Rohn has a career record of 300-102 for a winning percentage of .746 - the best for any basketball coach in Centennial Conference history.
Santone, the first of many current and former players to appear in a
tribute video to Rohn, scored a career-high 21 points and blocked three shots to break the school record of 71 in a season, which she set last year. She also ran her school-record career total to 189, moving into fifth place on the CC all-time list.
Plotke went 5-for-5 from the line to break the CC record of 38 consecutive free throws made, set by a Dickinson player in 2010. Plotke is a perfect 39-for-39 on free throws this season and made her final attempt of last season, establishing the new mark at 40.
Vallely finished with nine points, 10 rebounds, five assists and five steals. The five assists gave her 129 for the season in CC games, tying the mark set by a Washington player in 2012.
Muhlenberg broke away from a six-point halftime lead with an impressive second-half showing. The Mules outscored the Fords (14-8, 9-6) by a 39-18 margin in the final 20 minutes, holding them to 19.4-percent shooting from the field. The Mules also had a rebounding advantage of 32-14 in the second half.
Muhlenberg never trailed, leading 14-6 after one quarter and 21-10 early in the second. Haverford, however, held the Mules to one field goal in the final 6:59 of the second to close to within 23-17 at the break.
It was 27-22 early in the third quarter before the Mules exploded, going on a 17-0 run to break the game wide open. Sophomore
Christina Manning started the surge with a three-pointer in transition off a pass from Vallely, and junior
Maggie Zerbe (9 points, 13 rebounds, 3 blocks) capped it with a putback. Santone scored eight straight points in the run.
The Mules led by as many as 32 points late in the fourth and wound up holding an opponent under 40 points for the first time this season. Muhlenberg, which came into the game third in Division III in field-goal percentage defense, limited the Fords to 23-percent shooting.
Sophomore
Chelsea Gary contributed eight points and five rebounds off the bench, going 4-for-4 from the field.
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