READING, Pa. – The Albright Lions women's basketball team never trailed on Saturday afternoon in their contest against Lebanon Valley as they cruised to a 74-59 win in MAC Commonwealth play at the Bollman Center.
 
With the win, the Lions improve to 9-5 on the season with a 4-1 record in MAC Commonwealth play and have now won five of their last six games. Meanwhile, the Dutchmen fall to 8-7 overall with a 3-3 record in conference play.
 
Senior Jane Joyce recorded a double-double as she led all scorers with 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field and 10 rebounds. Joyce scored 15 of her points in the second half and fell just short of a triple-double after recording eight assists for the second straight game. Classmate Alysha Lofton posted 18 points for the third straight game on 7-of-10 shooting from the field while adding seven rebounds, five steals, four blocks, and three assists. Sophomore Zaria Mohamed recorded her third straight double-digit scoring output with 13 points off the bench along with seven rebounds. Senior Devan Horka also tallied 12 points, eight rebounds, and four assists in the win.
 
The Lions opened the game by making their first three shots to take a 6-2 lead at the 7:51-mark of the first quarter before trading baskets for the next four minutes of the game. Leading by two with 3:01 left in the quarter, Albright outscored the Dutchmen 6-2 in the final minutes of the quarter to take a 19-13 lead headed into the second. A jumper from Mohamed at the 6:32-mark of the second quarter gave the Lions their first double-digit lead of the game at 27-17 and they would not let the lead fall under as many as six points for the rest of the first half. A pair of free throws from Lofton gave Albright a 38-28 lead with 20 seconds left before LVC hit a three-pointer with two seconds left in the half to cut the lead down to seven at halftime.
 
Albright hit two baskets to start the second half to take a 42-31 lead at the 8:33-mark of the third quarter before the Dutchmen brought the lead down to five at 46-41 after making four field goals in a row. The Lions responded with an 8-2 run of their own to take a 54-43 lead with 54 seconds left in the quarter and held a 54-45 lead into the fourth following a Dutchmen basket. Up 56-47, the Lions put the game away with a 16-1 run that spanned nearly five and a half minutes to take their largest lead of the game at 70-48 with 3:12 left in the game. The Dutchmen did not record a field goal in the fourth quarter until the 2:35-mark and would cut the lead down to 15 at the end of the game with the Lions starters on the bench.
 
The Lions shot 50 percent (29-of-58) from the field after going 52.2 percent in the second half, and went just 1-of-5 (20.0%) from beyond the arc. Albright went 15-of-17 (88.7%) from the free throw line and held a sizable 44-27 rebounding advantage for the game. The Dutchmen shot 36.8 percent (21-of-57) and went 14.3 percent (1-of-7) from beyond the arc. Lebanon Valley went 16-of-23 (69.6%) from the free throw stripe and forced 20 turnovers. However, the Lions scored 20 points off 14 turnovers and outscored the Dutchmen 14-0 on fast break points.
 
Caroline Scarff scored a team-high 17 points for the Dutchmen on 6-of-8 shooting from the field and added a team-high six rebounds. Becky Evans and Anne Lehr also hit double-digits with 15 and 11 points, respectively.
 
Albright will return to action on Wednesday, January 10^th as it travels for a key MAC Commonwealth matchup against Lycoming with tip-off at 7 p.m.