READING, Pa. – Behind a fast start to the first half, the Albright Lions women's basketball team cruised to an 81-47 win over Hood in MAC Commonwealth play at the Bollman Center on Wednesday night.
 
With the win, the Lions improve 16-5 overall behind their ninth straight win and 11-1 in MAC Commonwealth play. Meanwhile, the Blazers drop to 6-15 overall and 2-10 in conference play. Albright has won 12 of its last 13 games and maintains first place in the conference.
 
Senior Nina Mazzarelli led all scorers with 18 points, all of which came in the first half, and added two assists. Classmate Alysha Lofton came just behind Mazzarelli with 17, while adding nine rebounds (six offensive) along with three steals, two assists, and one block. A pair of Lions recorded double-doubles in the win with sophomore Zaria Mohamed tallying 14 points and a career-high 12 rebounds in addition to two blocks. Senior Devan Horka also recorded her second-straight double-double behind 10 points and 11 rebounds, while posting three assists as well.
 
 The Lions jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead in the first two minutes of the game before tallying 16-straight points to take a 22-3 lead at the 1:23-mark of the first quarter. Albright held the Blazers to just two field goals in the first quarter which included forcing a seven minute scoring drought for Hood. After holding a 24-5 lead after one, the Lions continued their dominance in the second quarter by putting together an 18-4 run that spanned nearly the first six minutes of the quarter to take a 42-9 lead with 4:09 left in the half. Albright saw its lead grow to as many as 36 before the Blazers scored the last six points of the half to bring the score to 47-17 at halftime.
 
Despite the dominance in the first half by the Lions, it was the Blazers that started off strong in the third quarter as they opened the second half on a 12-5 run that cut the Lions lead down to 23 at 52-29 with 6:21 left in the third quarter. Albright responded with five straight points, but was countered again by the Blazers with eight straight points to cut the lead down to 57-37 at the 2:05-mark. The Lions made four free throws to take a 61-37 lead into the fourth despite making just three field goals in the third quarter. Albright's lead lowered down to 22 with 7:09 left in the game, but it did not get any lower than that as the Lions closed the game on a 16-4 run in the final 5:12 of the game to take the 81-47 win.
 
Albright shot 40 percent (26-of-65) from the field for the game after shooting 47.5 in the first half. The Lions went 4-of-16 from beyond the arc (25%) and 25-of-34 (75.3%) from the charity stripe. Albright held a sizable 54-31 rebounding advantage which led to 13 second chance points. Meanwhile, the Blazers shot 29.9 percent (20-of-67) from the field after going just 25 percent in the first half. Hood went 4-of-12 (33.3%) from three-point range, and 3-of-5 from the free throw line. The Lions forced 21 turnovers which led to 20 points and blocked seven shots.
 
Denisha Robinson led the Blazers in scoring with 12 points and added four rebounds, four steals, and three assists. Ebony Pitt also posted 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting for the Blazers in the loss.
 
The Lions will return to action on Saturday, February 3^rd when they will travel to face Lebanon Valley in MAC Commonwealth play at 2 p.m.