READING, Pa. – The Albright Lions women's basketball team (3-5, 0-2 MACC) put together a late rally, but fell just short in a heartbreaking 66-65 loss to the Lebanon Valley Dutchmen (4-4, 2-0 MACC) on Saturday afternoon at the Bollman Center in Reading.
The Lions trailed 64-55 with 1:20 to play before a jumper from sophomore
Allison Dienes kickstarted a 10-2 run and classmate
Alli Marcus hit a three with 3.5 seconds left to cut the lead to one at 66-65. On the ensuing inbounds pass, the Dutchmen's Anne Lehr was able to elude the Albright defense and dribble out the final ticks off the clock.
Junior center
Zaria Mohamed and freshman forward
Gabby Boggs had 15 points apiece to lead four Lions in double figures, while junior guard
Lauren Killion added 13 points and freshman guard
Shaunna Bruker had 10. Boggs also collected a game-high 13 rebounds.
Emily Mealey led the way offensively for LVC with 18 points while Caroline Scarff added 15, Morgan Bamberger had 12 points and Lehr recorded 10 points, eight assists and five steals.
Bruker's layup in the early going gave Albright a 4-2 lead before Lehr answered with a jumper on the other end to start a 16-6 run over the remainder of the first quarter to open up an 18-8 lead for the visitors. Lebanon Valley led 30-19 with 1:39 left in the first half, but a late 7-0 run from the Lions capped by a Mohamed layup cut the deficit to four heading into the locker room.
Bruker hit a pair of free throws with 5:00 left in the third quarter to give Albright their first lead of the day at 40-39, but Lehr responded with a three-point play on the other end to put LVC back in front. A triple from Marcus tied things at 44 apiece at the 1:36 mark before Mealey hit a free throw to give the Dutchmen the lead for good. LVC stretched the lead to double digits at 61-51 on a Bamberger layup with 2:16 to play before Albright's afore-mentioned late rally.
The Lions shot 24-of-64 (37.5%) from the floor and 4-of-11 (36.4%) from deep, while LVC was 24-of-62 (38.7%) from the floor and 4-of-10 (40%) from beyond the arc. Albright held a 48-37 advantage on the boards led by Boggs' 13 caroms and eight from Mohamed. Scarff paced the Dutchmen with seven rebounds.
Albright continues MAC Commonwealth play on Wednesday, Dec. 5 when they travel to Widener to battle the Pride at 8 p.m.
