Freshman Kassidy Stout was so eager to make her first career start for the Muhlenberg women's basketball team that she ran out onto the court while classmate Sara Peretti's name was being announced.

Her enthusiasm proved to be justified. Stout contributed 6 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals, 3 assists and a blocked shot as the Mules started the new year by picking up their first Centennial Conference win of the season, 56-39 against Washington College.

Peretti finished with a game-high 12 points and 9 rebounds, narrowly missing her first double-double, while seniors Emily O'Mahoney and Emilie Benton scored 9 and 8 points, respectively. Senior Ashley Polera added 7 points and 5 assists.

The bigger story, however, was the Muhlenberg defense. The Shorewomen (6-5, 3-3) came in third in the CC in scoring, averaging 60.2 points per game, but the Mules (3-7, 1-4) held them to 25.9-percent shooting.

Neither team shot well in the first half, which ended the Muhlenberg ahead 20-19. Washington made the first basket of the second half to take its second lead of the game, but that would be its last lead.

Peretti scored inside off a pass from O'Mahoney to put the Mules ahead to stay, and a three in transition by Benton made it 25-21.

It was 33-30 with two minutes to go in the quarter before Muhlenberg scored six straight points, on buckets by Peretti, Polera and O'Mahoney (the last two coming off steals), to open up its biggest lead to that point at 39-30.

The Mules outscored the Shorewomen 17-7 in the final quarter to put the game out of reach.

Muhlenberg committed only four turnovers and shot over 40 percent from the field in the second half.

Sophomore Tori Dowd (pictured above) gave the Mules a big lift off the bench, playing 15 turnover-free minutes at the point and scoring her first 3 points of the season.