Box Score
SWARTHMORE, Pa. – Immaculata University's women's basketball team fell to host Swarthmore College, 70-66, in the Swat Tip-Off Tournament championship game on Sunday afternoon.
For the second-straight day,
Chrissy Esbensen led the Mighty Macs in scoring with 19 points, earning the sophomore point guard a place on the all-tournament team.
Chelsea McTigue poured in 18 points and led the team on the glass with seven rebounds.
Leah Kuczynski and
Rachel Denis each added nine points while Denis grabbed seven rebounds.
The Mighty Macs (2-1) outscored the Garnet (2-1) 41-37 during the second half to try to erase an eight-point halftime deficit but it proved to come up short.
Immaculata trailed by as many as 12 (52-40) with just under nine minutes left, and was able to chip away at the lead over a six-minute span on a 17-8 run. Immaculata was 9-for-10 from the foul line, and McTigue had eight points during the spurt to put the Mighty Macs down by just three, 60-57, with 2:39 to play.
Swarthmore was 7 of 10 from the charity stripe during the final two minutes which proved just good enough to hold on for the win. The Mighty Macs proved impressive from the line as well, going 7-for-8 during the final 1:11, bringing the scoring gap back to three (69-66) with eight seconds left.
Swarthmore's Kathryn Stockbower recorded a game-high 20 points and 18 rebounds, while Ceylan Bodur poured in 18 points and Kayla Moritzky added 12 points.
Stockbower had a short jumper with 6:04 left in the first half to break a 17-all tie, and it sparked a 12-4 run for Swarthmore over four minutes. After Immaculata trimmed the margin to 29-25 just inside one minute, Swarthmore ended the stanza with two baskets for a 33-25 intermission lead.
Immaculata shot 82.8 percent from the foul line for the game, connecting on 24 of 29 attempts. Swarthmore used its three-point shooting to out-distance itself from Immaculata as eight of the Garnet's 25 field goals came off three's.
Immaculata returns home on Tuesday night, Nov. 23, for a 7 p.m. contest with Rutgers-Camden.
