It was the first combination of large and small for Elizabeth (Gurt) Lynch.
The allure and grandeur of a big school never appealed to the 6-foot Archbishop Molloy small forward, but neither did life in a small college town. The senior got the best of both worlds in Haverford College, along with the chance to help the Fords continue to rebuild their program. It made Lynch very comfortable picking the Division III Pennsylvania school over the University of Chicago, Baruch and Penn.
“The whole setting was pretty cool, the professors for the most part live on campus and they are really close to the students,” Lynch said. “It’s kind of a small atmosphere, which I do better in than a big university.”
Havorford, which is two and half hours from her Floral Park home, is just 15 minutes from Philadelphia and close to Villanova and St. Joseph’s University, where her brother John is a freshman. The elite academic school features just over 300 students in a graduating class and has an excellent science program which will help Lynch, who scored a 1,400 on her SAT, reach her goal of becoming a doctor.
“It’s a really good school,” she said. “That’s why I chose it, not just for basketball.”
The team is in the rebuilding stages under third-year head coach Bobbi Morgan. The Fords went 6-18 last season and 4-16 in the Centennial Conference, but featured the conference scoring leader in freshman Nina Voith. Lynch likes Morgan’s down to earth style and the players’ commitment to getting the program back on track
“I think it’s a really exciting thing that I would love to be a part of and help them out and win a conference championship,” she said.
Lynch, who missed the majority of her sophomore season with a torn ACL, had a solid junior last year for the Stanners off the bench. She has an excellent outside shot, can handle pressure off the dribble and has been working on her play in the paint to help a Molloy team that lost three senior starter.
“I’ve been working on my moves,” Lynch said. “Trying to be more of a horse with the rebounding.”
