Men’s Lacrosse vs. York (Pa.) (Saturday, 12:00)

Field conditions permitting, the Mules will make their home debut against a York squad coming off an overtime loss to defending national champion Stevenson. Muhlenberg opened its season with an 11-7 loss at Montclair State. The Spartans, who set a school record with 13 wins last year, are part of a grueling schedule for the Mules: their 14 opponents combined for a .607 winning percentage in 2013. York won last year’s meeting, 15-10.

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Women’s Basketball vs. Ursinus (Saturday, 2:00)

The Mules closed out their regular season looking to take some momentum into the playoffs. For a change, they already know who and where they’ll play in the postseason: Muhlenberg (15-9, 11-6) is the fourth seed and will host fifth-seeded Gettysburg on Wednesday.

Ursinus (11-12, 8-9) won five in a row to put itself in contention for a playoff spot before getting eliminated with a 73-36 loss to Haverford on Wednesday.

The Mules have won 11 straight meetings against the Bears, including a convincing 67-43 victory in Collegeville last month, part of their current stretch of nine wins in 11 games.

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Men’s Basketball vs. Ursinus (Saturday, 4:00)

Muhlenberg (15-9, 10-7) has clinched a playoff berth and is locked into the 4-5 game. The Mules need a win and a Johns Hopkins loss at Washington to host the game; otherwise they will travel to Franklin & Marshall, McDaniel or Johns Hopkins for their first-round clash.

Winless through their first 10 games of the Centennial Conference season, Ursinus (6-18, 4-13) has caught fire of late, winning four of its last seven. The Bears come into Memorial Hall on a three-game winning streak, which includes a 61-56 defeat of F&M.

Muhlenberg won 82-66 when the teams met a month ago for its fourth straight series win. Last year, the Mules swept the Bears in a season series for the first time since 1999-2000.

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Wrestling at Centennial Conference Championships (Saturday, 10:00)

Two Muhlenberg wrestlers are expected to travel to Ursinus to compete at the conference meet. Freshman Jaryd Flank was 4-4 in the CC in a tough 125-pound field that includes two of the top-ranked wrestlers in the country. Sophomore Che Chengsupanimit was 2-6 at 149.

tournament site

Indoor Track & Field at Haverford’s Keogh Invitational (Saturday, 11:00)

After losing a meet to the weather last weekend, the Mules teams have their final tuneup for next weekend’s Centennial Conference Championships.

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Women’s Tennis at Vassar (Saturday, 12:00)

The Mules open their spring season against a Vassar team that was ranked 10th in the Northeast Region in the ITA preseason poll.

Baseball at Gallaudet (Sunday, 12:00 doubleheader)

Muhlenberg will get in the second half of its scheduled opening weekend four-game trip (Saturday’s twinbill at Shenandoah was rescheduled as a single game for Sunday, March 23). The forecast calls for weather in the mid-50s in Washington on Sunday – not bad at all. The Mules were 20-20 in 2013; Gallaudet, coached by former Major Leaguer Curtis Pride, went 20-21 and opened its 2014 campaign with a 14-4 win against Marymount on Wednesday.

The Mules opened their last three seasons with doubleheader sweeps of the Bison, winning last year’s games 8-4 and 4-3.

Just don’t try telling that to Kim Mui.

After all, Mui has never felt simultaneously more at home and more out of place than she did during Monday’s women’s basketball game between Muhlenberg and Wilkes.

Caught between her old team and the new, the former Mule guard and first-year Colonels graduate assistant found herself in unfamiliar territory in a place she called home for four years. This, however, hardly felt like a rock and a hard place.

Instead of their usual routine, Mui and third-year Wilkes head coach Chris Heery – an assistant for six years with the Mules – spent much of the time leading up to the game catching up with old friends and reminiscing on the trio of Centennial Conference championships they helped bring to the program.

Instead of their former digs, they took up residence in the visitor’s locker room, and then on the visitor’s bench.

Mui was honored as the Mules’ “Unsung Hero” in December 2011.

“When I got there, I gravitated towards the Muhlenberg bench just because I am so used to it,” Mui said. “I almost wanted to go into their locker room and do the cheer with them.”

Instead of the usual handshakes, Mui exchanged warm hugs with Muhlenberg’s players when the starting lineups were announced.

“I was sitting next to Abby [Stenger] waiting for them to call our names, and she said, ‘do we hug her? Are we supposed to give her a high five or a handshake?’ and I had no idea,” recalled Muhlenberg senior Leeann Lanza. “Colleen [Caldwell] ran out and hugged her, so we were like, ‘okay, we can give her a hug!’ It was so fun.”

“I was told the refs saw that and gave each other looks like ‘what are these girls doing?’” Mui said with a laugh. “I enjoyed that moment a lot.”

So did Mule head coach Ron Rohn, who remarked at the time: “You don’t see that very often. Nobody ever hugs me.”

To complete the weirdness, with her new squad down one with 16.2 seconds to go, Mui found herself cheering against a good friend, pleading for Mule senior Erin Laney to miss the front end of a critical one-and-one.

“It was funny because we were looking to foul and Erin gets the ball and I was like, ‘no, that’s the worst person to foul’ because she’s such a great leader,” Mui said of her former teammate. “Obviously I want my team to win, so I wanted her to miss, which was so weird. After the game I congratulated her, but during it, it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I was a nervous wreck.”

The irony wasn’t lost on Lanza and company.

“It was so strange to see her on the other bench,” said Lanza. “We were thinking, ‘why is she sitting on the other side?’ She’s been to so many of our games this year, and this was the one time she’s rooting against us.”

Laney’s free throws, and a desperation miss at the buzzer by Wilkes, brought Monday’s reunion to a thrilling end, a 62-59 victory for the Mules that brought back many fond memories for Mui. After all, she was a member of the program’s winningest class – one that produced 93 victories, CC crowns in 2009, 2011 and 2012 and a pair of ‘Sweet Sixteen’ appearances. A visitor in name only, Memorial Hall couldn’t have felt more like home to Mui.

“I love that gym,” said Mui, who finished her three-year Mule career (an injury sidelined her for one season) with 113 points and 89 rebounds, “and I loved playing here. As soon as you walk in, you’re like ‘wow.’ I’m still very close with the upperclassmen, and it was great to see them and their families.”

Muhlenberg women’s basketball 2011. Chris Heery is in the back row, second from left, Ellen Rich is in the middle row, fifth from left, and Kim Mui is on the extreme right of the bottom row.

As it turns out, Mui isn’t the only part of “home” that Heery has brought to Wilkes. One of his top players, junior Ellen Rich, was a freshman reserve center on the 2011 CC championship team. And his first graduate assistant – Mui’s predecessor – was Sheila Cook, a former Mule standout from 2008-11. So when Cook left Wilkes to become an assistant at Scranton, Heery knew just who to call. At the time, Mui was about to embark on a week-long journey to Europe with – who else? – the 2013-14 Mules.

“Two days before I left I got a call from Chris, asking whether I wanted the job,” recalled Mui. “It was happening so fast, but it was a great opportunity. Chris is a great guy, and I knew from Sheila that it was a great chance for me to get into coaching. I’m very happy.”

Wilkes women’s basketball 2014. Chris Heery is on the left, Ellen Rich is in the middle, and Kim Mui is still on the extreme right.

Along with Muhlenberg’s extended family in Wilkes-Barre, Mui will be back home again soon: Wilkes, as well as Cook’s Scranton squad, will compete in next year’s Scotty Wood Tournament. Or, perhaps the Mule Family Reunion would be more apt.

“There will be a lot of Muhlenberg in the house,” Mui said. “I can’t wait.”

And no matter where she goes, there’s no place like home.

“It was a weird feeling,” Mui said, “but it was just awesome to be able to coach in Memorial Hall, against a program that I love so much and has given me so much.

“It was great to come home.”

Women’s Basketball at Franklin & Marshall (Saturday, 1:00)

With a week to go in the regular season, Muhlenberg (13-9, 9-6) is tied for fourth place in the CC with Gettysburg. Swarthmore and Ursinus are both two games back and need big finishes and lots of help to break into the top five and earn a playoff berth.

If the Mules play like they did the first time against their remaining opponents, the two playoff hopefuls won’t get any help from them. Muhlenberg beat Franklin & Marshall by 17, Dickinson by 13 and Ursinus by 24.

A win at Franklin & Marshall combined with losses by Swarthmore (at McDaniel) and Ursinus (home vs. Washington) clinches the Mules’ 20th postseason berth in the 21 years of the CC.

The Diplomats (3-19, 1-14) are a dangerous opponent: Losers of 14 straight, two of their last three losses were one-point setbacks at Johns Hopkins and Ursinus, and it will be their Senior Day.

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Men’s Basketball at Franklin & Marshall (Saturday, 3:00)

The standings say it all about the importance of this game:

• Dickinson 13-2
• McDaniel 11-4
• Muhlenberg 10-5
• Franklin & Marshall 10-5
• Johns Hopkins 10-5
• Gettysburg 8-7

The winner could move into sole possession of third place, as Johns Hopkins has to face Dickinson. A Gettysburg loss at home to Haverford clinches a playoff berth for the Mules, win or lose.

Muhlenberg has won four of its last five, including defeats of playoff contenders McDaniel, Dickinson and Gettysburg (the latter two on the road). The Diplomats have lost three of their last five, including a stunning collapse on Wednesday at last-place Ursinus. F&M led 24-1 at one point in that game and was up 35-16 at halftime.

The Mules have lost five straight to F&M, including a 76-64 setback earlier this season and playoff losses each of the last two years, and have not defeated the Diplomats at the Mayser Center since the 2001 CC playoffs.

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Wrestling vs. Washington and Lee/Ursinus (Saturday, 12:00)

These are the final matches for the Mules before next Saturday’s CC Championships. The bout to watch is at 125 against Ursinus, where Muhlenberg freshman Jaryd Flank could face Christopher Donaldson, who is ranked No. 1 in Division III.

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With the Centennial Conference Championships just two weeks away in wrestling and three weeks off in basketball and track, this weekend’s contests offer potential postseason previews.

Women’s Basketball at Gettysburg (Saturday, 1:00)

Here are the Centennial Conference standings heading into Saturday’s games:

• Haverford 11-2
• Johns Hopkins 12-3
• McDaniel 9-4
• Muhlenberg 9-5
• Gettysburg 8-5
• Swarthmore 7-8
• Ursinus/Washington 5-8

If the order doesn’t change, Muhlenberg and Gettysburg will face each other in the first round of the CC playoffs. But both teams, who have combined to win the last three CC championships (the Mules in 2011 and 2012 and the Bullets last year) are looking to move up in the standings and avoid the 4-5 game.

Win or lose, Muhlenberg is in great position for making the playoffs. The Mules close out the CC regular season against Franklin & Marshall (1-12), Dickinson (1-13) and Ursinus, while Swarthmore, the team with the most reasonable chance of breaking into the top five, still has to play McDaniel and Haverford.

Gettysburg is the hottest team in the CC, coming into the game on a four-game winning streak, and is 7-1 at home this season. The Bullets are holding opponents to a CC-low 32.5-percent shooting in league games; Muhlenberg is third in that category at 33.7.

The Mules won the first meeting this season, 62-57, and have taken five of the last seven series meetings at Gettysburg.

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Men’s Basketball at Gettysburg (Saturday, 3:00)

The men’s standings show the importance of this game:

• Dickinson 11-2
• McDaniel 10-3
• Franklin & Marshall 9-4
• Johns Hopkins 9-4
• Muhlenberg 8-5
• Gettysburg 7-6
• Washington 4-9

Six teams are battling for the five playoff spots, and these two are fifth and sixth. If the Mules win, they will have a two-game lead for the last spot with four to play. A Gettysburg win throws the playoff race into a mad scramble the last two weeks of the season. Muhlenberg still has games left against Franklin & Marshall (away) and Dickinson, while the Bullets finish the regular season with tough road games against F&M and McDaniel.

Both teams are trying to rebound from losses. Gettysburg had a three-game winning streak (which included a 54-38 defeat of F&M) snapped with a 67-55 loss at Dickinson on Wednesday. Muhlenberg fell at Haverford on Wednesday but has not dropped back-to-back CC games all season.

The Mules closed the game on a 10-2 run to win the first meeting this season, 77-69. Muhlenberg has lost its last three games at Gettysburg, last year in overtime.

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Indoor Track & Field at Frank Colden Invitational (Saturday, 9:00)

The Muhlenberg teams return to Ursinus for the first time since competing in the CC Championships there last February. One of the events to watch is the women’s 60-meter hurdles, where Ursinus’ Victoria Goodenough and Muhlenberg’s Stephanie Carnevale rank 1-2, respectively in the CC this season. At last year’s championship meet, Carnevale edged Goodenough by seven hundredths of a second to win gold en route to becoming an All-American.

Wrestling at Merchant Marine with Johns Hopkins (Saturday, 5:00)

Muhlenberg freshman Jaryd Flank will be put to the test against two of the best 125-pounders in the CC. Defending CC champion Paul Bewak of Johns Hopkins is 26-1 this season, currently ranked third in Division III. Merchant Marine’s Mike Mui is 16-4.

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

Four teams that are likely to make the Centennial Conference playoffs will be at Memorial Hall for a huge basketball doubleheader that highlights the first weekend of February.

Women’s Basketball vs. McDaniel (Saturday, 2:00)

It will be just like old times for these two teams. From 2004, when the Centennial Conference went to one division, to 2010, a McDaniel-Muhlenberg matchup in February usually had great playoff implications. Both teams qualified for the CC playoffs in six of those seven years, and they met in the playoffs four times.

The Green Terror (14-4, 9-3) finished under .500 in the CC in each of the last three years, but now it is back in a big way, tied in the loss column for second place. The Mules (11-7, 8-4) are just a game back, and as the playoff teams start to separate themselves out, games like this one are huge.

McDaniel comes in with a six-game winning streak that includes back-to-back 70-41 blowouts of Johns Hopkins and Washington. Muhlenberg has won six of seven since suffering a 52-45 loss at McDaniel in early January.

It could be another low-scoring game. McDaniel is second in the CC in scoring defense (51.7 points per game) and leads the league in steals per game, turnover margin and three-point field-goal defense. Muhlenberg, meanwhile, has allowed opponents to shoot just 30.8 percent from the field (24.5 percent from three-point range) and average only51.1 points over its last eight games.

Following the game, one player on each team will receive the Aril Bryant Award in memory of a Mule player who lost her life to breast cancer last summer. Please visit the Muhlenberg team page to contribute to the Kay Yow Foundation, which supports those fighting breast cancer.

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Men’s Basketball vs. McDaniel (Saturday, 4:00)

Four days after defeating first-place Dickinson, Muhlenberg returns home to face another first-place team in McDaniel. The Mules’ first home game in two weeks matches the hottest team in the Centennial Conference against the hottest scorer in the CC and the league’s top defense against its second-best offense.

The Green Terror (14-4, 9-2) is tied for first place in the CC and has won seven straight games. It entered the week ranked ninth in Division III in scoring defense, allowing only 60.2 points per game. The Mules (12-6, 7-4) are tied for fourth place with Johns Hopkins.

Defense won out when the two teams met in Maryland in early January. The Mules scored 30 points in the first 13:34 in opening up a 15-point lead but managed only 20 points the rest of the way as the Green Terror came back for a 57-50 win. Muhlenberg has won 14 of the last 16 series meetings in Memorial Hall.

Junior guard Malique Killing scored 38, 33 and 35 points in the Mules’ three road games, becoming only the second player in CC history to record three straight 30-point games. The seventh-leading scorer in Division III at the start of the week, he needs just 26 more points to set the CC record for points scored in the freshman, sophomore and junior years.

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Indoor Track & Field at Lehigh’s John Covert Classic (Saturday, 10:00)

The indoor season is moving allowing rapidly for the Mule teams: this is only their third meet of the season, yet they’re just one month away from the CC Championships. They will get to compete against Division I athletes for the first time this season at Lehigh.

Wrestling at Gettysburg with New York University (Saturday, 1:00)

The shorthanded Mules wrestling team travels to Gettysburg to compete in its second straight CC trimatch.

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The home openers for track and wrestling and an important basketball doubleheader in Baltimore make for a big weekend.

Indoor Track & Field hosts Muhlenberg Invitational (Friday, 3:00)

Muhlenberg welcomes DeSales, Goucher, Neumann and Wesley for its only home indoor meet of the season. Last year, Muhlenberg athletes won 12 of the 26 events. Field events begin at 3:00, running events at 6:00.

Wrestling vs. McDaniel and Stevens (Saturday, 12:00)

Muhlenberg opens its Centennial Conference dual meet season with the first of its two scheduled home tri-matches. The Mules take on McDaniel in the first match and Stevens in the third. Both McDaniel (at 133) and Stevens (at 149) bring in nationally ranked wrestlers. Coming off his impressive win at Ursinus’ Will Abele Invitational last weekend, Mule freshman Jaryd Flank will make his home debut – although since McDaniel does not have anyone at 125, his first appearance probably will be a brief one to get his hand raised.

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Men’s Basketball at Johns Hopkins (Saturday, 1:00)

Two teams that were defeated in the Centennial Conference semifinals last year meet for the second time this season, with Muhlenberg looking to complete its fourth season sweep of Johns Hopkins in the last six years.

In the first meeting this season, the Mules saw their 16-point halftime lead pared to three but shot 60 percent in the second half to hold on for a 91-75 win.

Muhlenberg (11-5, 6-3) and Johns Hopkins (9-7, 6-3) are currently tied for fourth place in the CC, a game behind second-place McDaniel and Franklin & Marshall and two in front of sixth-place Gettysburg. The Mules have won three of their last four following a three-game losing streak, while the Blue Jays have rebounded from a four-game skid by winning five of their last six.

A win would push Muhlenberg to 7-3 in the CC for just the second time in the last 12 years.

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Women’s Basketball vs. Johns Hopkins (Saturday, 3:00)

The two most successful programs in CC history meet for the second time this season, with the Mules (9-7, 6-4) looking to continue their hot streak against the first-place Blue Jays (12-3, 10-0).

Muhlenberg has won four of its last five, including Wednesday’s decisive 67-43 win at Ursinus. Hopkins had a much tougher time at Ursinus last Saturday, needing a late rally to win 71-67. Dating back to last season, the Blue Jays have won 21 of their last 23 CC regular-season games.

Hopkins scored 14 of the game’s first 17 points and nine of the last 12 to edge the Mules, 65-58, in a back-and-forth battle in the first meeting this season.

The Blue Jays hold a 24-18 all-time lead in a series that includes 11 postseason meetings. Muhlenberg has won a game in Baltimore in each of the last three seasons, last year in the regular season and in the 2011 and 2012 CC championship games.

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Female Athlete of the Week – Leanna Tallamy, Basketball

Tallamy averaged 19.0 points on 58.3 percent shooting to take over the Centennial Conference scoring lead and help the Mules to two wins in three games. Tallamy scored 18 points in only 18 minutes in a win against Franklin & Marshall and led all scorers with 24 points – a career high for a CC game – in a loss at Swarthmore. She finished the week with a 15-point, 6-rebound effort vs. Washington.

Male Athlete of the Week – Jaryd Flank, Wrestling

Flank won a loaded 125-pound bracket at Ursinus’ Will Abele Invitational. The bracket included three past national qualifiers, including the top-ranked wrestler in Division III. In the final, Flank posted a dramatic win against a Washington & Jefferson wrestler who received honorable mention in the latest d3wrestle.com rankings, scoring a pin with just 16 seconds left.

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.

The last two home events of 2013 are a pair of intriguing basketball games featuring four teams whose seasons all ended in the semifinals of the Centennial Conference playoffs last year. Plus, wrestling hits the mats for the first time in three weeks.

Wrestling at Messiah Petrofes Invitational (Friday and Saturday)

This will be the 27th consecutive year for Muhlenberg competing in this tournament, which was formerly hosted by Lebanon Valley. The Mules are sending six wrestlers to what usually is a very competitive field.

Women’s Basketball vs. Johns Hopkins (Saturday, 12:00)

Johns Hopkins vs. Muhlenberg is a rivalry unlike any other in Centennial Conference women’s basketball. Games between the two teams are frequently memorable and almost always important, since the programs are by far the top two in the league’s history. Since the formation of the CC in 1993, Hopkins has a 265-67 (.798) record in league games, and Muhlenberg is 255-84 (.752). No other team has more than 209 wins or a winning percentage higher than .633.

Hopkins (6-2, 5-0) has jumped to the early lead in the CC race (along with undefeated Haverford), while Muhlenberg (4-2, 2-1) has lost two straight close games to teams receiving votes in the D3hoops.com poll.

Expect some points to be put on the board. Muhlenberg and Johns Hopkins are first and second, respectively, in the CC in points scored per game and last and third-from-last, respectively, in points allowed per game. The average score (rounded) of the eight CC games involving one of these two teams is 74-65. The average score of the other 11 CC games this year? 55-46.

The Blue Jays hold a 23-18 all-time lead in a series that includes 11 postseason meetings. Last year the teams split, with the visitor prevailing each time.

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Men’s Basketball vs. Johns Hopkins (Saturday, 2:00)

Johns Hopkins has been a thorn in Muhlenberg’s side ever since the formation of the CC in 1993. The Mules are 9-25 against the Blue Jays in CC regular-season and playoff games, and only three of those nine wins have come at home. Hopkins leads the all-time series, 35-15, and swept last year’s meetings, 76-74 and 63-59.

Muhlenberg (5-1, 2-1) and Hopkins (4-4, 2-1) were picked third and fourth, respectively, in the CC preseason poll, and one will keep pace with Dickinson, the only 3-0 team, heading into the holiday break.

The Blue Jays are coming off a home loss to Gettysburg, while the Mules won at Swarthmore, 64-48, in their first post-Thanksgiving game. It was the 16th time Muhlenberg held an opponent under 50 points in a CC regular-season game, and it was another fine defensive effort for the Mules, who are holding their opponents to 36.4-percent shooting (33.6 percent in their five wins). Those percentages drop to .263 and .190 for three-pointers; Hopkins has made more three-pointers (57) than any other CC team.

A win would give the Mules their second 6-1 start in three years; before 2011 they hadn’t been 6-1 since 1988.

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