COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College women's basketball team saw their 2024-25 season come to an end in the first round of the Centennial Conference tournament behind a 71-57 loss to Dickinson College on Wednesday evening from Helfferich Hall.
Junior forward
Madison Smith finished with a team-high 16 points and six rebounds, while senior forward
Chinwe Irondi added 13 points and eight rebounds. For Dickinson, Jenna Weinstein led all scorers with 24 points behind finishing four-of-six from three-point range. Dickinson's Mia Chapman added 16 points, while Caitlin Blackman tallied nine points, nine rebounds, and eight assists.
The Red Devils used a fast start to grab an 8-1 advantage, before a basket from Irondi cut into the Bears deficit at the 6:25-mark. Next, Dickinson used an 8-2 run to stretch their advantage to 16-5 with 2:24 remaining in the quarter. The Red Devils capitalized off a pair of steals on the defensive end leading to three-pointers and the momentum early on. Dickinson closed out the period with the final five points and held a 21-5 advantage at the end of the first quarter. Both defenses held the opposition scoreless for the first 2:24 of the second quarter, until senior
Charlotte DiLello connected on a pair of free throws at the 7:36-mark. Dickinson responded with five straight points, before Ursinus answered back with five straight of their own to make the score 26-12. Ursinus started to mount a comeback as a 5-0 run capped off 10 straight points for the Bears to make their deficit 26-15 with 4:05 remaining in the first half. Later in the period, Dickinson connected on a three-pointer while a layup from Smith made the score 32-22 at the halftime break.
Smtih connected on a jump shot for the Bears to open the second half, but a 7-2 run from the Red Devils increased their lead to 39-26 at the 7:26-mark. Both teams traded baskets until a layup from Dickinson put their lead into double digits at 45-34 with 3:53 remaining in the period. The Red Devils closed out the period by connecting on consecutive three-pointers to extend their lead to 51-38 heading into the final stanza. Irondi collected an old fashioned three-pointer to open the fourth, but a pair of free throws from Chapman kept the Bears deficit at 12 with 9:01 to play. Juniors
Makenna Foder and
Ava Possenti each recorded layups for the Bears, but an 8-4 run from Dickinson increased their lead to 62-49 with 4:30 remaining in the contest. Ursinus responded with an 8-2 run to cut their deficit seven behind a three-pointer from Possenti at the 2:26-mark. Unfortunately, Dickinson closed out the contest on a 7-0 run to capture the 71-57 victory. With five seconds remaining in the contest, Irondi exited the floor to a standing ovation from the Helfferich Hall crowd. The Waldorf, Maryland native closed out a historic career for the Bears finishing ranked second all-time in program history with 1,818 points and 1,015 rebounds.
Ursinus shot 40.4% (23-of-57) from the field, 9.1% (1-of-11) from three-point range, and 55.6% (10-of-18) at the charity stripe. Dickinson supported a shooting percentage of 43.1% (25-of-58), a 31.8% (7-of-22) from deep and finished 87.5% (14-of-16) at the charity stripe.
The Bears close out the 2024-25 season supporting a 16-10 overall record and a 10-5 mark in Centennial Conference action.
