READING, Pa. – The Albright Lions women's basketball team started fast and never trailed in their Wednesday night meeting with crosstown rival Alvernia as they cruised to a 79-36 win in MAC Commonwealth play.
With the win, the Lions improve to 12-5 overall after tallying their fifth straight win with a 7-1 record in MAC Commonwealth play. Meanwhile, the Golden Wolves fall to 3-13 overall with a 0-8 record in conference play. The 43-point win was the largest margin of victory for Albright since they defeated Alvernia on the road by 46 in February 2016.
A pair of Lions recorded double-doubles in the win as senior
Alysha Lofton recorded her third of the season while sophomore
Zaria Mohamed tallied the first one of her Albright career. Lofton scored 14 points on 6-of-9 from the field, and added 10 rebounds, four assists, plus four steals. Mohamed scored 15 points off the bench along with 10 rebounds (six offensive) and two steals. Senior
Nina Mazzarelli registered a game-high 18 points in the win with six rebounds, and junior
Aniya Jones posted a career-high 10 points behind a perfect 4-of-4 shooting from the field.
The Lions scored the first five points of the game to start a 16-2 run that spanned the first six minutes of the first quarter. The dominance continued from there as they held the Golden Wolves to just one field goal in the first quarter, while forcing seven turnovers and closing out the quarter with the final six points to take a commanding 22-4 lead. Albright started the second quarter with a 7-1 run to take a 29-5 lead with 8:13 left in the first half. Between two quarters, the Lions held Alvernia without a field goal for 10:36. After snapping the field goal drought, the Golden Wolves ran off seven straight points to cut the Lions lead down to 29-12 at the 5:14 mark. However, Albright responded with nine unanswered points of their own to help them take a 38-14 lead into the half.
Albright stretched its lead to 30 at 48-18 thanks in part to a defense that forced Alvernia without a field goal for 8:56 between the second and third quarters. The Lions continued to control play and scored six of the final eight points between the two teams to end the third quarter, and took a 54-24 lead heading into the final quarter. Albright started the fourth quarter on a 9-2 run to take a 63-28 lead with 6:36 left in the game before using another 9-2 run to close out the game with the final score of 79-36. Mohamed also scored 11 of the Lions 25 points of the fourth quarter.
The Lions shot 39.7 percent (27-of-68) from the field after shooting 53.8 percent in the second half. Albright went 3-of-15 from beyond the arc and 22-of-37 from the free throw line, while holding a sizable 58-32 rebounding advantage for the game. The Golden Wolves shot 21.3 percent (10-of-47) from the field after shooting just 14.3 percent in the first half. Alvernia went 5.0 percent (1-of-20) from beyond the arc and 15-of-27 (55.6%) from the free throw stripe. Albright forced 21 Golden Wolve turnovers which led to 27 points and received 32 points off the bench. The Lions also posted 22 second chance points.
Alvernia had a pair of players reach double-figures in scoring with Kiersten Ingram leading the team with 12 points off the bench. Maya Cooper also recorded 11 points in the loss.
Albright will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 20th as they will look to avenge an early season loss to Widener in MAC Commonwealth play at the Bollman Center with tip-off at 2 p.m.
