HAVERFORD, Pa. –The Ursinus College women's basketball team outscored Haverford 29-18 in the second half, lifting the Bears to a 55-43 road victory over the Fords on Thursday evening.
 

With the victory Ursinus improves to 11-7 on the season and 7-6 in Centennial Conference action. Meanwhile, the Fords fall to 6-12 overall and drop to 3-10 in conference play.

 
Sophomore forward Madison Smith paced the Bears offense recording her fifth double-double of the season behind a team-high 13 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists. Junior Chinwe Irondi added a boost in the paint collecting 12 points and eight rebounds, while senior Sarah DiLello went three of six from three-point range and tallied 10 points.

 
Haverford scored the opening basket of the contest at the 8:44-mark, but the Bears quickly responded as senior Natalie Mehl found Sarah DiLello on a three-pointer to give Ursinus a 3-2 advantage. Ursinus continued with the stellar shooting over the next three minutes extending their lead to 10-2, before a Haverford timeout with 6:29 remaining. Irondi started the Bears run with a layup, before a layup and a three-pointer Smith gave Ursinus the eight-point advantage. Haverford answered with a three-pointer of their own, but an 8-0 Bears run stretched their lead out to 18-5. Irondi opened by connecting on three of her four free throws, while sophomore Ava Possenti recorded a three-pointer to stretch the Bears lead to 13 at the 2:41-mark. Haverford closed out the opening period with a 5-0 run to bring their deficit to eight at the end of the first period.

 
Each team connected on their opening shot of the second quarter, before a 7-0 run from the Fords brought the Bears lead to three with 6:05 remaining in the first half. After Irondi collected a basket, each team was held scoreless for nearly two minutes until a basket from the Fords at the 3:53-mark. With Ursinus leading 22-19, Haverford scored four of the next five points to tie the game at 23 a piece with 2:12 remaining in the opening half. DiLello connected on her second three-pointer, but a basket from Haverford gave Ursinus a 26-25 lead at the halftime break.
 

Each team opened the second half with a basket, but a jumper from Smith and a three-pointer from Mehl extended the Bears lead to six with 7:45 to play. Haverford answered with a jump shot, but DiLello responded with a three-pointer to extend the Bears lead to 36-29. Ursinus closed out the third period on a 9-5 run to extend their advantage to 45-34 at the end of the third quarter. Senior guard Kelly Grant tallied a three-pointer, while sophomore guard Makenna Foder closed out the period with a mid-range jump shot.
 
 
The Fords did not go away to open the final stanza as they used a 7-0 run to bring their deficit to four at the 8:28-mark leading to an Ursinus timeout. Haverford cut into the deficit at the 6:50-mark as a jump shot from Emuobor made it a two-point game. On the ensuing Bears' possession, Irondi collected an offensive rebound and scored before each team was held scoreless for the next three minutes of play.  The Ursinus defense held the Fords off the board for the final seven minutes of play, while Irondi and Grant combined to score the final seven-of-eight points for the Bears in route to the 55-43 victory.
 
 
Ursinus shot 39.1% (18-of-46) from the field, 35% (7-of-20) from three-point range, and 60% (12-of-20) from the free-throw line. Haverford shot 31.7% from the field, 14.3% (2-of-14) from deep, and 60% (3-of-5) from the charity stripe. For the Fords, Ally Landau collected a game-high 19 points and four rebounds, while Siena Emuobor added 10 points and five rebounds. The Bears outrebounded Haverford 40-32, while Haverford held a 22-16 edge in points scored within the paint.
 

The Bears return to action on Saturday, January 27^th as they host No. 10 Johns Hopkins for a Centennial Conference matchup at 1 p.m.