With 11:35 left in the second half, senior guard Mary Kate Tierney began outlining the perimeter as she waited for an open look. After receiving the pass, she elevated and flicked her wrist from behind the arc. Even after the ball went through the net, Tierney kept her arm up as she back-peddled to the opposite side of the court.
With 19 points and 11 rebounds, Tierney had another double-double, which helped the Bombers win 54–43 against Haverford College in the second round of the Division III NCAA Tournament on March 8 in Ben Light Gymnasium.
Senior forward Jenn Escobido also had a double-double for the Blue and Gold. She scored 16 points and grabbed 12 boards while adding three assists and two steals.
Tierney said her teammates just needed to find a shooting rhythm in order to pull away from the Black Squirrels.
“I’m a very emotional player,” she said. “Once I hit a few [shots] and see a few go in, it’s much easier. My teammates found me wide open, and I can’t ask for much more than that.”
Escobido said once her team took the lead, the opposing defense had trouble keeping up.
“I think we definitely tired them out,” she said. “Towards the end [the Black Squirrels] were just getting tired, and we kind of took away their will a little bit.”
Earlier in the game, Haverford went into halftime with a one-point lead. Its defense forced the Bombers to shoot just under 33 percent from the floor.
Haverford head coach Bobbi Morgan said her team executed a good defensive game plan, but its offensive struggles were too much to overcome.
“I give [Ithaca] a lot of credit, they played great defense,” she said. “But we missed a lot of shots. We missed a lot of cheapies, a lot of layups. Elizabeth Lynch is an incredible 3-point shooter, and so is Cara [Wyant], but we just couldn’t knock them down tonight.”
Senior forward Cara Wyant led Haverford in scoring 14 points and hitting four 3-pointers. She also added six rebounds and two blocks for the Black Squirrels. Excluding Wyant, Haverford hit only three of 18 shots from behind the arc.
The Bombers will play Amherst College on March 14 at a site yet to be determined. The Blue and Gold played Amherst earlier in the season, losing 66–44 on Nov. 24, 2013.
