COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – First-year Madison Smith netted two free throws in the final second of the game to propel the Ursinus College women's basketball team to a 54-52 Centennial Conference victory over McDaniel on Saturday afternoon.


 
With the victory, the Bears improved to 6-10 overall and 4-7 in Centennial Conference action, meanwhile the Green Terror fell to 7-9 on the season and 4-7 in conference play.
 


Junior Natalie Mehl carried the offense throughout the contest finishing with 17 points and two rebounds, while sophomore Chinwe Irondi collected her seventh double-double of the season tallying 10 points and 10 rebounds. Junior Kelly Grant paced the offense with eight points and three assists while Smith totaled four points and two rebounds.
 


Ursinus jumped out to an early 5-2 advantage behind a Mehl jump shot on the opening possession and a three-pointer from Grant at the 9:00-mark. After a McDaniel bucket, Mehl collected a steal and an Irondi layup gave the Bears a four-point advantage. Irondi pulled in an offensive rebound and went up for a quick layup to give the Bears a 9-3 advantage. The defense continued to keep the Green Terror off the board as senior Margrett Brown extended the Bears lead to eight with a jump shot from the free-throw line at the 2:21-mark. McDaniel's Meggie Burgess connected on a jump shot on the ensuing possession, but the Bears quickly answered with a 6-2 run to close the period and held a 17-7 advantage after the first quarter.
 

 
Each team struggled in the opening two minutes of the second period until McDaniel's Josey Klingenberg and first-year Madison Smith traded baskets at the 7:32-mark. Ursinus stretched their lead to 21-9 at the 6:45-mark with a jumper from first-year Makenna Foder. The Green Terror bounced back with an 8-2 run over the next three minutes to cut their deficit to six with 3:05 to play in the half. Junior Sarah DiLello and Mehl each went one-for-two at the free throw line on back-to-back Bear's possessions to extend their lead to eight with 2:06 to play. McDaniel closed out the first half on a 6-4 run to cut the deficit to six at the end of the first half.
 


McDaniel opened the second half with a 6-2 run over the first three minutes to cut their deficit to two at the 7:00-mark. The Green Terror would tie the game at 31 a piece with a layup from Elaina Beckett, but Mehl would step up for Ursinus with ten straight points behind an efficient 4-of-4 from the field and two deep three-pointers to give Ursinus a 41-31 lead. McDaniel's Jordan McLean scored the final basket of the quarter with a jump shot at the 1:01-mark to cut the Green Terror deficit to eight at the end of the third quarter.
 


Junior Alison Lisanti drilled a three-pointer on the opening possession to stretch the Bears lead to 11 at the 9:48-mark. After a McDaniel basket, Irondi connected on back-to-back free throws to keep the Bears lead in double-digits. The Green Terror used an 11-0 run to tie the game at 46 a piece with 4:54 to play behind five baskets from five separate players. Ursinus stretched their lead to four down the stretch as Grant and Mehl each went a perfect two-of-two from the charity stripe. McDaniel later tied the game at 52 a piece behind a 6-2 run and a basket from Mallory Conroy with 1:04 remaining in the contest. McDaniel controlled the ball with the shot clock turned off and scoreboard ticking down under 15 seconds remaining. The Bears forced a turnover and with less than a second on the clock Smith was fouled and sent to the free throw line to ice the game. She would make each of the free throws to give Ursinus the victory at Helfferich Hall.
 


The Bears shot 35.9% (17-48) from the field, 31.3% (5-16) from three-point range, and 71.4% (15-21) from the charity stripe. Ursinus held a 15-9 advantage in points off turnovers while each team finished with 28 rebounds. McDaniel's Elaina Beckett finished with a team-high 12 points and 10 rebounds, while teammate Liliana Overcash totaled 11 points and one assist.
 


The Bears will return to action on Tuesday as they host Gettysburg College for a Centennial Conference matchup starting at 7:30 p.m.