The Muhlenberg women’s basketball team paid tribute to the many former players who returned to Memorial Hall yesterday by hosting a post-alumnae game reception. And by playing a one-point game against McDaniel.

The thrilling 60-59 win added another chapter to a remarkable rivalry that has included eight one-point games in the last 13 years.

That’s eight one-point games in 30 meetings with the Green Terror. Over the same stretch, the Mules have played a total of six one-point games in 315 meetings with all other opponents.

Here’s a rundown of those nailbiters:

• 2001-02 Western Maryland 83, Muhlenberg 82 (ot)
• 2001-02 Western Maryland 53, Muhlenberg 52 – Centennial Conference semifinal
• 2002-03 Muhlenberg 63, McDaniel 62
• 2005-06 Muhlenberg 65, McDaniel 64
• 2005-06 Muhlenberg 56, McDaniel 55 (ot) – Centennial Conference semifinal
• 2008-09 Muhlenberg 77, McDaniel 76 (ot)
• 2009-10 McDaniel 72, Muhlenberg 71 (ot)
• 2013-14 Muhlenberg 60, McDaniel 59

Not making the list was another overtime game, won by McDaniel by a relatively comfortable margin of three points in 2003-04. In the Mules’ CC championship season of 2005-06, they defeated the Green Terror three times by a total of five points.

Incredibly, yesterday’s game was the fourth of the eight decided on free throws with fewer than 5 seconds remaining. In 2002-03, Muhlenberg’s Lindsay Tis made a pair of winning free throws with 3 seconds to play. In 2008-09, Alexis Bates sank a pair with 2.1 showing as the Mules escaped one of few close calls they had in their undefeated CC season.

McDaniel’s win the following season came on two free throws with 2.5 seconds to play. Yesterday, Erin Laney made the second of two foul shots for the winning point with 0.8 showing on the clock. In the screen cap at left, Laney’s shot goes through the basket as the anxious Mule men’s team looks on.

The two teams had gotten away from their thrilling games the last few years as McDaniel went through a rebuilding phase. Muhlenberg won all six meetings between 2010-11 and 2012-13 by an average of 16 points.

But McDaniel is back near the top of the CC standings, where it resided for most of the last decade. After yesterday’s game, the Green Terror and Mules are tied for third place in the CC with identical 9-4 records. Only three weeks remain in the regular season, and both teams are in good position to make the playoffs. If they do, the current Mules could join their predecessors who played McDaniel in the postseason eight times.

And if that happens, there’s a good chance it will be yet another one-point game.

Alumnae returning yesterday included:

(front) Abra Like ’08, Kaitlin Strumph ’09, Kristen Piscadlo ’06, Meg Malatack ’03, Lindsay Tis ’04, Gwen Doyle ’05, Randi Baran ’03, Kathleen Naddaff ’12, Alita Zabrecky ’13, Kelly McKeon ’11

(back) Ron Rohn, Michelle Feldman ’08, Jill Friedman Crossan ’04, Tiffany Kirk ’06, Lacie Smith ’06, Sam Tager ’06, Julie Kelly ’13, Kate Clawson ’13, Lauren Boyle Dexter ’09, Bethany Enterline ’09

If Maggie Zerbe gets to lift a Centennial Conference championship trophy in a couple of months, it still might not measure up to the last piece of hardware she held in her hands. And if the freshman on the Muhlenberg women’s basketball team ever feels those pregame jitters, she’ll have advice taken firsthand from a legend to guide her.

A few weeks ago, Zerbe had the chance to meet Teresa Edwards, a Hall of Famer and four-time gold medalist with the United States national team. Edwards was in town to speak at a banquet in advance of an annual Lehigh Valley high school tournament – one that Zerbe, a Bethlehem native, attended several times – and when Mules head coach Ron Rohn texted the team to see if anyone was interested in having lunch with her, Zerbe jumped at the chance. Though Zerbe wasn’t fully aware of Edwards’ resume, the freshman came away fully impressed.

“I didn’t know anything about her,” Zerbe said. “Coach told me she was a five-time Olympian, though. She was pretty cool.”

Accompanied by Rohn and Muhlenberg professor Jack McCallum, who chronicled professional basketball for three decades at Sports Illustrated and arranged the meeting, Zerbe listened intently at a restaurant in Bethlehem as Edwards regaled her, as well as players from Moravian and DeSales, with stories of her playing and coaching career.

“It was definitely interesting meeting her,” Zerbe said. “She talked a lot about playing overseas and in the Olympics. She played in five Olympics, so it was cool hearing about all the coaches she had – [Legendary Tennessee coach] Pat Summitt, [Stanford’s] Tara VanDerveer. It was amazing hearing about her experiences.”

In addition to winning gold with the American national team in 1984 (Los Angeles), 1988 (Seoul), 1996 (Barcelona) and 2000 (Sydney), Edwards is one of just three basketball players to have played in five Olympics. She also holds the unique distinction of being the youngest women’s gold medalist (age 20 in 1984) and the oldest gold medalist (36 in 2000).

“Players now probably think women’s basketball only goes back to UConn and Rebecca Lobo,” Rohn said. “They don’t necessarily have an appreciation of the history of the game. For Maggie to have a chance to meet Teresa and hear about her experiences was a great thing.”

Zerbe, who has played in seven games for the Mules this season, says she often feels nervous before games. As a freshman, she’s still adjusting to the college game and her new surroundings. So hearing Edwards, who played in her first Olympic Games as a collegian at Georgia, describe going through the same experiences was certainly reassuring.

“She said to just remember you belong there,” Zerbe said. “Have confidence in yourself, because that’s the one thing no one can take away from you. She said she had to pay her dues, going into a program in college and then at the Olympics.

“It definitely helps. Feeling that other people have gone through the things you have to, it’s something you can use. To know that she had experienced the same things I’ve been experiencing was nice to hear.”

Edwards, who played overseas for nine years after graduating from the University of Georgia and was named the 1996 Sportswoman of the Year by the Women’s Sports Foundation, predictably had no shortage of fascinating anecdotes.

There was the one about Summitt – “Pat would give her ‘the look’ if she made a mistake,” Zerbe said. There were many about the Games themselves, and what it felt like to win a gold medal – or four. The ones that piqued Zerbe’s interest, however, were the ones about her years in Spain, France, Italy and Venezuela, and the international celebrity she gained from her accomplishments.

“The stories that stuck out for me were about when she played overseas,” Zerbe recalled. “You were a celebrity over there. Even earlier on when she first started playing, she would walk outside and people would come up to her and ask for her autograph. It was so interesting to hear how different it was than here in America.”

At the end of the meal and an hour and a half of stories, Zerbe got to try on Edwards’ last gold medal, the one she earned at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

“It was really cool,” Zerbe said. “It was pretty heavy, even more than I thought it would be. It was definitely a very cool experience that I’ll remember for a long time.”

Now, Zerbe and the Mules would love some hardware of their own.