In a close battle between two rival Lehigh Valley schools, it was a big block from sophomore Carley Hamilton that helped seal a 63-61 home victory for Muhlenberg women's basketball over DeSales.
 
Up by one with 30 seconds left, the Mules (9-6) needed to make a defensive stand to preserve their lead and Hamilton did just that, denying a layup from a driving Bulldog with nineteen seconds left. Hamilton then grabbed the loose ball and was fouled, sinking one of two free throws. Muhlenberg then came up with one last stop on a last-second shot from the Bulldogs (11-4) to preserve the win.
 
Junior Rachel Plotke, who made a career-high six three-pointers against DeSales last season, drained five of her seven triples along with all three of her free throws to lead the Mules with 18 points. Junior Brandi Vallely recorded a double-double for the second straight game, finishing with 11 points to go with a team-high 11 rebounds and seven assists.
 
Hamilton scored a season-best 10 points and her late block was her team-best third for the game She also grabbed three rebounds. Junior Sara Dilly also dropped 10 points, pulling down six rebounds and dishing out a team-high four assists to go with four steals.
 
The Mules came back from a nine-point deficit by beginning the fourth period on a 9-0 run, capped off by a Plotke triple that tied the game at 48-48. DeSales retook the advantage with a free throw before junior Chelsea Gary dished to Hamilton underneath for a layup that put Muhlenberg in the lead. A Gary jumper and another Plotke three-pointer gave the Mules a 55-49 advantage with 3:22 to go.
 
The Bulldogs cut the lead down to two with two minutes left, but Vallely swung the momentum back to Muhlenberg with a jumper in the lane followed by two free throws, making it 61-55. DeSales then scored six of the next seven points within 30 seconds to set up the late-game dramatics.
 
DeSales jumped out to a 23-16 lead at the beginning of the second period before Muhlenberg tallied the next four points, with a tough layup from senior Maggie Zerbe making it 23-20. The Bulldogs upped their advantage back to seven again but Vallely found Hamilton on two layups in three possessions to cut the deficit back down to three.
 
Muhlenberg closed out the period with a Plotke triple and a buzzer-beating layup from freshman Ashley Polera that tied it at 31-31 heading into halftime.  
 
Gary (pictured above) came close to finishing with a double-double as well. She scored eight points and grabbed nine rebounds.
 
The teams combined for 33 assists and each had 18 turnovers in the game. Muhlenberg outrebounded DeSales 46-41 and had 13 steals compared to DeSales' 10 swipes. The Mules also made 20 of 25 free throws as a team.

The win for Muhlenberg creates a three-way tie for bragging rights amongst the three Division III Lehigh Valley schools -- DeSales, Moravian and Muhlenberg. DeSales beat Moravian while Muhlenberg fell to Moravian earlier in the season. The tie is the first for the three-team series since 2011.