The 12th-ranked Muhlenberg women's basketball team quickly found its winning way again, with a strong first half leading to a 56-46 victory at McDaniel.
 
The Mules (14-1, 9-1 CC) built a double-digit advantage late in the first period and never looked back, holding the Green Terror (6-8, 4-5 CC) to 25.4 percent from the floor and 14.8 percent from three-point range in the game.
 
Senior Chelsea Gary (pictured above) finished with her seventh double-double of the season, leading Muhlenberg with 16 points and 11 rebounds while shooting 7-of-11 from the field. Senior Rachel Plotke added 13 points with three three-pointers, putting her two shy of 200 for her career.
 
Senior Brandi Vallely filled the stat sheet with 10 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four steals. She moved into 11th place on Muhlenberg's all-time scoring list with her first basket of the scond half, and with 20 more points will become the 11th Mule to record 1,000 career points. Vallely also needs seven assists to reach 600 for her career.
 
Muhlenberg scored the first five points of the game on a Plotke triple and a Gary layup and tallied 14 straight points over a five-minute stretch that extended over into the second period. Two jumpers from junior Carley Hamilton and a layup by junior Sara Dilly started the run, and another Plotke three-pointer capped the rally with the Mules up 25-8.
 
The Mules carried their 17 point lead into halftime and built their lead to as many as 21 on a Gary layup late in the third period. The Mules never relinquished their double-digit lead and led by close to 15 for most of the second half.
 
The Mules, who came into the contest ranked 14th in NCAA Division III in field-goal percentage defense and 19th in three-point field-goal defense, recorded their eighth game of the season holding their opponent to under 30 percent shooting and fifth such contest allowing less than 20 percent shooting from deep.