Thanksgiving week basketball games can be a coach's nightmare, and Dickinson's women's team fell into that bad-dream scene Tuesday as it dropped a 63-49 Centennial Conference opener to Swarthmore at the Kline Center.
Some coaches cannot be sure whether their teams have checked out for Thanksgiving and will just go through the motions or are going to show up with some intensity for the final game before the break.
Swarthmore showed up with a lot of intensity, raced out to a nine-point halftime lead and was able to coast from there for its third win of the season against one loss. It was the Centennial Conference opener for both teams.
The Red Devils struggled to hit their shots in the opening half, converting just 10 of 29 attempts. Dickinson had a lot of clean looks, but the ball wouldn't go through the rim.
The two teams went back and forth through the first part of the opening half. The Devils led 5-4, 7-6 and 9-8 before a putback by Swarthmore's Katie Lytle, a freshman from Central Dauphin East, put the Garnet ahead. Swarthmore never trailed in the contest after the 11:25 mark.
Swarthmore went on a 10-2 run just before the half, including a last-second, length-of-the-court drive and three-point play by Kayla Moritsky that gave the Garnet the 30-21 lead.
For the night, Moritsky led the Garnet with 21 points, contributing several clutch free throws down the stretch.
Kathryn Stockbower, a pre-season second-team All-American according to D3Hoops.com and a fourth-team All-American last season, also helped the Garnet with her 73rd consecutive double-double in a Centennial Conference game. She tallied 20 points and added 14 caroms.
Lytle had six points, five rebounds and three steals.
"Kathryn (Stockbower) is amazingly consistent every game," said Garnet coach Renee DeVarney. "We have a lot of depth this year at Swarthmore, and some of that depth was the difference tonight. Moritsky made big plays all night, and we have been lacking a solid point guard thus far.
"Katie (Lytle) is a very good athlete, and she has been better that I expected."
Dickinson picked up the intensity in the second half, but that intensity didn't match the level of the Devils' play over the weekend at the Days Inn Tournament, where Dickinson picked up a championship.
"We didn't shoot well the whole game," said Red Devils coach Dina Henry. "We talked about the intensity level and making sure we came out to play tonight. Stockbower is going to get her double-double. Moritsky was the one that hurt us tonight. We didn't expect that. If we would have played the whole game like we didd the final nine minutes, we might have been in a different position. We need to learn, because we have a tough week next week. We have Haverford, McDaniel and Johns Hopkins."
Dickinson (0-1 Centennial, 2-1 overall) shot 32 percent for the game, including zero of six from beyond the arc.
Taylor Miller and Alesha Sisco each scored 13 points, while Carole Dempsey added eight.
Dickinson travels to Haverford next Tuesday night for a 7 p.m. tip-off.
Messiah 50, Susquehanna 44
Dori Gyori scored a team-high 17 points for the No. 21 Falcons and hauled in a team-best 12 rebounds. Teammate Michele Schleich added 17 points and Taylor Miller scored 10. Messiah led by six points, 24-18, at halftime and matched Susquehanna point-for-point in the second half.
UDC 67, Shippensburg 57
Ship held a one-point lead with seven minutes to play but could not preserve its advantage down the stretch, dropping a 67-56 decision at the University of the District of Columbia.
Shippensburg took a two-point lead with 9:07 left after a jumper by junior Lindsay Howard and answered a UDC three-pointer with a layup by Howard that gave SU a 48-47 lead with 7:27 remaining. The Firebirds regained the lead on a three-pointer at the 6:28 mark and stymied the Red Raiders offense down the stretch to take control.
Men's Basketball
Messiah 66, York 62
Chris Yoder paced the Falcons with 18 points, hitting eight of nine shots. Jeremiah Runkle earned a double-double for Messiah with 12 rebounds and 12 points. York rallied in the second half but hit less than 30 percent of its shots after halftime.
Dickinson 74, Swarthmore 61
The Red Devils turned a three-point halftime lead into a 13-point rout Tuesday in the Kline Center. Brian Gerney led Dickinson with 17 points. Teammate Adam Honig added 14 and Logan Furr scored 11. Matt Dolan's 12 rebounds were a game-high for the Red Devils.
Shippensburg 78,
Wilmington 64
All five starters posted double figures for the Ship on Tuesday night. The Red Raiders used a 15-0 run in the second half to pull away.
Shippensburg, reduced to just eight players due to injury and illness, received career-best performances from all five of its starters, including double-doubles from three players who had never accomplished the feat before Tuesday.
The Red Raiders, who entered the game shooting 46 percent from three-point range, were 11 of 20 on Tuesday night, including a torrid 8 of 13 in the first half. Overall, SU shot 55 percent or better from the floor in both halves.
